A BABY was just inches away from being crushed to death when a car smashed into the wall of his room.

The red Fiat Stilo smashed through a fence and into the wall of the flat in Hundred Acres Close, in Cowley, Oxford, knocking lumps of plaster and brick into the cot of five-month-old Callum Palmer-Flynn.

Twenty-one month old sister Keira, who was sleeping just metres away against the same wall, was shunted across the room by the force of the impact, at about 11pm on Wednesday.

Mother Tiffany Palmer said the only thing which saved her son from being crushed to death by a breeze block twice his size, was a simple wallpaper border.

She said: “I woke up to an almighty bang, I thought the ceiling had come down. I went into the baby to give him his dummy because I could hear him crying.

“It was dark and I wasn’t quite concentrating but when I felt around his cot all I could feel was bricks and rubble.

“When I put the light on I saw what had happened.

“Where the car hit it had actually pushed the breeze blocks through the wall.

“There was a massive block hanging inches away from his head. I was absolutely livid, but now I am just so happy my children are safe. It’s a miracle.”

The flats were evacuated by Oxford City Council officers who are assessing the damage to the property before they allow the family and a neighbour in an upstairs flat to return.

Martyn Mumford, tenancy operations manager at Oxford City Homes, said the council was working to find the family alternative accommodation.

He added: “The resident from the flat above was moved to accommodation at the Kassam Stadium.

“Officers from Oxford City Homes attended the site and a structural engineer examined the flats.”

Judith Flynn, the grandmother of the two children, from Hollow Way, said: “It’s horrific. I can’t bear to think of it, but if it had landed any nearer Callum would have died.

Police spokesman David Paull last night said the driver of the car had voluntarily gone with police to a station but he was unable to tell the Oxford Mail if an arrest had been made.

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk