FOUR people miraculously escaped with their lives after a car smashed through their living room window.

The friends were at home in St Paul's Road, Hartlepool, at about 11pm on Tuesday night when the Vauxhall Cavalier ran off the road and embedded itself in their home.

Michelle Lennox was sitting on the windowsill and was thrown several feet across the room as the car hit the wall.

And her flatmate, Bryan Binyon, said he feared they would die.

"I saw the headlights and I thought it was a bomb - I just shouted 'bomb'," he said.

A 24-year-old man was arrested on the scene on suspicion of motoring offences. He is still helping police with their enquiries.