A FORMER ITV weatherman whose cottage was partly demolished by a car is still living out of a suitcase almost three weeks later.

TV veteran John Bannister, 79, and his partner Eileen Blastland were upstairs asleep when a Ford Fiesta crashed into the front of his Hanbury cottage at around 1.45am on May 1.

The car ended up almost completely in the living room and sent bricks to the back of the house in the impact. Several cracks were also visible at the gable end as the day dawned.

The house was rendered unsafe and uninhabitable and the couple have been staying across the road at The Vernon pub ever since.

Mr Bannister said it was going to be a slow process and didn't expect to be back in his home until October.

"It is very frustrating," he said. "Not a lot has happened so far. We had a preliminary report from the builders who said some of the building work could be completed by the middle of September. Certainly the whole of the front of the house will have to be demolished and rebuilt.

"Structural engineers have been and we're now waiting for builders to come and shore the place up. Nothing can be done until then. We've been very grateful to Ray and Pam Ellis, at The Vernon, for letting us stay at the pub, but we can't stay here forever and will eventually be moving to Eileen's house in Grimsby until the work is completed. In the meantime we're looking forward to a holiday in Croatia we booked before the house was damaged."

On May 4 a woman came forward claiming to be the driver of the car. She was reported by police for driving without due care, for failing to stop and failing to report an accident. Police are still putting their own reports together and no charges have yet been made."