A FAMILY have told of their rude awakening when a police car was involved in a collision with a parked van outside their house, demolishing part of their garden wall.

Thirty-four-year-old Brandon Wes-ton and his wife Joanne, aged 33, were asleep at their home, in Droitwich Road, Worcester, before the crash at just before 2am yesterday. They were woken by a loud bang and went to the window to see a white Ford transit van lodged in their garden wall with a police car behind it. The van was written off.

Mr Weston rushed outside to find two police officers trapped in the car. They were cut free by firefighters, who were called by a neighbour.

Mrs Weston woke up their children Edward, aged seven, Freya, aged five, and Louis, aged two and moved them to the back of the house, fearing gas from a ruptured gas pipe might ignite. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing - it was not a nice experience," said Mr Weston.

The road was closed for more than six hours. The driver of the police car, which was responding to an incident, is today described as serious but stable. He has been transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham.