Mother and son wake up after a car crashes through a facade: “Unfortunately not the first time this has happened” (Arendonk)

For Linda Van Gestel (58) and her son Daniel Van Dijck (28) from Arendonk, the week started with a bang. A car veered off the bend on Monday morning and ended up in the garage of their home in Onder d’Eike. The driver of the car, a local man in his seventies, probably became unwell and therefore missed a bend.

Onder d’Eike is a side street of Grens, the regional road that connects Arendonk with the Dutch Reusel. Traffic coming from the direction of the Netherlands must take a sharp left turn at Grens just before the bridge over the Dessel-Schoten canal. It is at that location that the accident happened on Monday around 9 am. “I was still sleeping and suddenly woke up to a loud bang,” says Linda Van Gestel. “My husband was not at home, but our son was. We looked through the window at the back of the house and saw a number of people standing outside. They were pointing to our garage. When we got downstairs, we saw that a car had driven straight through the wall of the garage.”

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The driver of the car is a 78-year-old man from Arendonk. “The man lives nearby and came from the Netherlands with his car,” says Patrick Deboel of the fire brigade. “He probably became unwell. The car therefore drove straight through the bend, destroyed the fence around the house and came to a stop in the garage. A witness freed the victim from the car. The man was taken to hospital for a preventive check, but did not sustain serious injuries. After the car was towed, we propped up the house.”

Parental house

The residents of the house are gradually getting used to cars going out of the bend. “It is not the first time, every year vehicles end up in our garden,” says Daniel. “The fence shows traces of it in several places. Usually it is drivers who are under the influence and drive too fast and thus miss the bend. Despite everything, it is only the second time that a car has driven into our facade.”

“The house is my parental home,” Linda explains. “Due to past accidents, we have already experienced two times when our own car was a total loss. In the meantime we have recovered from the shock. The most important thing is that we are unharmed and that only the rear building is damaged.”