Two men are very grateful this Thanksgiving Monday after they narrowly escaped an out-of-control truck that slammed into a house they were working on in Surrey.
Michael Stadther and his co-worker were putting the finishing touches on a University Drive house renovation when they heard a loud crash.
“Shortly after the boom, a truck came flying through both these gates,” says Stadther. “We knew the rate of speed it was coming through the gates, it was coming through the house. So we just took off outside the door.”
The men ran out a side door – and moments later the truck crashed through a wall and into the room they had been working on.
“You could hear the wood cracking and everything,” says Stadther, noting he and his colleague escaped unharmed. “I would have been pinned by the truck…I have a lot to be thankful for.”
A witness told CTV News the crash happened after the truck turned onto University Drive and lost control, jumping a median and hitting a car. The truck began spinning, then smashed into the house – all of this happening in a matter of seconds.
Images from the scene showed a wall at the front of the house almost completely demolished from the accident. Neither Stadther nor his co-worker live in the home, but were days away from completing the renovations.
The people inside the truck – which had a New Driver sticker on the back - were also uninjured.
“[The driver said] sorry, sorry, sorry. He said the brakes failed,” says Stadther, who called 911 immediately after the accident.
It was raining heavily at the time, although it’s not clear if that played a role in the accident.
An investigation is ongoing.
With files from CTV Vancouver’s Michele Brunoro
