A couple woken by a loud bang early on New Year’s Day were stunned to find a car had crashed into their new home and then been driven off.

Barry and Christine Bissett, both in their 70s, were fast asleep at around 2am when it happened.

"My wife woke me and said to me ‘there was a noise, did you fall out of bed?’But I hadn’t because I was still lying next to her," Barry said.

Then their neighbour across the road came over, knocked on the door and told them to go look outside.

When they saw their fence had been destroyed and the wall of the house in Otter Way, Royal Wootton Bassett, had been damaged, they were shocked.

“I couldn’t believe it. My wife was in tears, she was really upset. I’m not really like that I was just a bit surprised, but I’m still taking it in. I’ve seen it happen before to other people but luckily for us it wasn’t as bad.

“There are cracks from the roof all the way down. The fence was really destroyed, one part of the car had created a hole into the wall by the meter cupboards. That’s had to be turned off.

“We don’t want to move out of the house if we don’t have to because we only moved here a couple months ago.”

He said: “My first thought was someone had a good night. The cars do go around too quickly where we live but it could have been worse for them.”

Police were called, taped off the damaged area and launched an investigation to find the driver.

“The police were called pretty soon we were surrounded by a series of people. Lots of people have said they might have seen the car that did it but we will see what happens.

“So much is going on to get it all sorted and finding out who it was," he said.

"The council surveyor came over and said it should be okay and our neighbours have been so supportive so that’s really helped.”

A spokeswoman for Wiltshire Police, said: “We were called just after 2.15am on January 1 to a report that a vehicle had hit the wall of a building in Otter Way and then left the scene.

A fence, wall and electricity box were damaged during the incident. Enquiries have been ongoing to identify the vehicle.”

Anyone who has information about the vehicle or the driver is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.