PICTURES: Trucks leaves 200ft trail of destruction before ploughing into Allostock man's back garden

Ian Burgess, 56, of London Road, was in the back garden of his house, which backs on to the A50, on Friday afternoon at around 2pm when a wagon came barrelling through his fence and ploughed into a tree.

“It could have been a lot worse,” said Ian.

“I froze when he came through the fence. It was like something out of a Hollywood blockbuster.

“A friend of mine had just arrived and we were chatting in the garden when we heard this almighty crash and splitting wood.

“The driver would have gone straight through my garden and into my house. Once he hit the lawn he just started sliding. He did well to steer it away.

“He hit a tree and my nice Victorian lamppost, which is no more. The main thing is that no one was hurt.”

According to eye-witnesses, the truck had been behind a tractor on the A50 coming from Holmes Chapel when another tractor coming from the opposite direction came onto the wrong side of the road.

Reports suggest that the tractor drivers knew each other and had moved closer together to acknowledge each other, forcing the truck to come off the road to avoid a collision.

56-year-old Eugene Marsh, was the driver of the Sprakes and Sons truck who drove through the All-in-One garden centre car park on London Road, through the fencing, before swerving to avoid hitting Ian’s front room.

The wagon left a 200ft trail of destruction through the garden centre car park before ploughing through the children’s miniature railway.

“I’m battered and bruised,” said Eugene, who spoke to the Guardian.

“It was a bad accident but no one died and that is the main thing. When I came through the trees the people in the garden just froze to the spot.

“It was a bit frightening to say the least. I hit the kiddie’s railway and flattened it – that was a shame. It was fortunate I was only doing 26 miles an hour.

"I just hope that the tractor driver comes forward."

During a quiet period at the centre just after the lunchtime rush; the garden centre carpark was not full and no people or vehicles were damaged.

Richard Biggar, assistant general manager at All-in-One Knutsford, was on duty at the time and rushed outside in time to see the aftermath of the crash.

“The lunchtime rush had just died down,” he said.

“The driver was quite shaken and in shock. He managed to turn the tuck to an extent and ended up in the garden.

“If it had happened an hour or an hour and a half beforehand then there would have been a lot of damage to customers. He could have easily taken somebody with him.”

A spokesperson for Cheshire Police said: “On Friday October 2 at 2.27pm we received reports that a HGV had gone into a garden and hit a lamppost which was in the garden.

“The company arranged for the lorry to be removed. The police will have no further involvement and the homeowner and the driver have exchanged details.”