BRISTOL City Council may be unable to install a safety barrier to prevent the repeat of an accident which saw a car plummet 60ft down a bank into a house in Brislington.

Residents of Queensdown Gardens have called on the authority to put in bollards or a steel-enforced wall after a driver lost control of her BMW in Withleigh Road and it careered into their steeply-sloped back gardens.

Although no one was badly hurt in the dramatic accident, residents say it could have proved fatal.

However, the city council says there might be difficulties in installing a barrier to stop vehicles rolling into the tiered gardens.

City council spokeswoman Kate Hartas said: "Bollards are not an option we could consider because they could cause vehicles to spin out of control.

"If we put in a barrier on council-owned land, it would block access to garages. Where a barrier could be effective is on private land. If residents could contact us there may be another solution."

Mum Amy Hatcher climbed out of the BMW unscathed after it crashed through a 5ft breeze block wall and into the gardens before narrowly missing a patio door on the afternoon of July 1.

The accident left a trail of devastation after pieces of the car and garden wall were sent flying into three gardens and on to patios.

Auxiliary nurse Vicky Avery, 23, and her partner Aaron Spells, 24, a firefighter, had been in their new home for less than 24 hours when the car landed on their patio against their brick shed.

Miss Avery was with Virgin Media cable installers in her lounge when she looked out of her patio door to see a car bouncing down her garden from Withleigh Road – a steep street which stretches uphill from above her back wall.

The police, fire service and ambulance service were all called to the scene and Mrs Hatcher, who was alone in the car, was taken to the Bristol Royal Infirmary by ambulance for a check-up.

Mrs Hatcher, who lives with her family in Withleigh Road up the hill from the crash scene, refused to comment about the accident when she was approached by the Evening Post the day after the crash. Residents said it was unclear how she lost control of her vehicle.

Neighbours said a van had fallen into the gardens five years ago and a car rolled to the bottom of the gardens in the 1970s .

The day after the crash, a recovery vehicle winched the BMW out of the garden and it was lifted on to a truck and taken away.

Miss Avery said she had contacted the council about installing a barrier shortly after the accident but did not receive a full response.

She said: "I can't believe they haven't been in touch with me about it.

"There might be problems with land ownership because the patch of land at the end of our garden does not belong to us according to the Land Registry deeds.

"We would be happy for a barrier to be installed on our land because it would prevent a car from falling into our garden again."

Miss Avery said that she was expecting insurers to cover the cost of the damage caused to her garden and said she was still awaiting a visit from assessors assigned to survey the property.