Huge 4x4 'dangles' at top of garden after rolling away from house

A couple say they are fearing for their lives as a huge 4x4 car has been left "dangling" at the top of their back garden for several days. They fear the vehicle could career into their house at any moment. The Mitsubishi is perched with its rear wheels mid-air, held back only by a tree stump, behind Martin Herbert's house in Miskin, Mountain Ash.

The 67-year-old said it is his friend's car, which accidentally rolled across the road in the morning of Friday, April 26, before "smashing" through Martin's gate, veering over a wall, and crashing into his greenhouse and half-demolishing it. The greenhouse itself teeters over the edge of another 6ft wall in the steep garden and the car is just metres away from his patio doors.

Tape has been put up around the scene and piece of rope has been attached to the car and tied to a gatepost. But Martin is terrified the tree stump will give way and "end up halfway through [his] lounge". Martin, who is disabled, said despite calls to the police, his friend's insurance firm, the fire service and a vehicle recovery organisation the 4x4 has remained in its "precarious and dangerous position" for two days leaving him and his wife in "limbo".

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Explaining what happened on the day of the crash Martin said his friend's car "hurtled across the road with him half hanging out trying to get his foot on the brake". Martin was on his way out when he heard "shouts and screams" from his friend's wife and he was greeted by the scene which he described as "something out of a horror movie".

"[My friend] was on the deck. We managed to get him out and get him on the chair," said Martin. They called fire brigade who came out and secured the area, putting tape around it. They also phoned the police but were told there weren't any units available at the time and officers have not yet attended, Martin claimed.

The friend's insurance company told them to ring a recovery organisation who showed up on Friday evening with a recovery vehicle to drag the vehicle out but Martin urged them the vehicle to lift the vehicle out instead. "We told them that they'd need either a HIAB or a crane to get the vehicle out because of the position it's in...I said [to the recovery team]: 'If your chains or whatever you've got fail the vehicle is going to career into the back of the house and end up killing somebody'."

He claimed the recovery organisation said they'd send somebody out there "first thing" on Saturday but after they "waited for ages" nobody showed up. "It's Sunday morning and the car is still perched at the top of my garden," said Martin. "We can't get hold of anybody... there is no human being to get hold of. It's the same [on my friend's] end".

He added: "As the wind blows, because all the glass is busted in the greenhouse, [the glass is] just falling out and smashing all over the place and shattering. Some of it has hit the back of my patio door where it's shattered. My wife and I are crapping ourselves. Every smash we hear the glass we think the thing is coming through the back of our house. It's unbelievable... Why has it been left this long in such a precarious and dangerous position?"

He added that children had been hanging around the site disregarding the tape put up by the fire service. The tape also surrounds Martin's garage and he's been told not to cross it meaning he can't get to his mobility scooter. "We've been held in limbo and fearing for our lives. We're not exaggerating – it's that bad...that's how dangerous the situation is," he said.