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Golf club in driver's range

Lee Sykes
9/ 4/2008

A TEENAGE boy has cheated death after he stole a high-performance car and crashed it into the clubhouse at Royton and Crompton Golf Club.

The 15-year-old was taken to hospital after a sports car he was driving smashed into the club – causing an estimated £50,000 in damage – shortly before midnight on Sunday.

Firecrews from Chadderton freed the underage motorist, who was also covered in petrol, from the overturned vehicle.

It is thought the Mercedes SL300 – which had been stolen a short time before from outside a house on Littlewood, Royton – clipped a kerb as it travelled down High Barn Street.

It is estimated by witnesses to have gone nine feet into the air, before crashing through a hedgerow and smashing into the side of the building. It finally came to a stop almost 20 feet further down the road and the force of the impact demolished a two-storey stairwell at the club house.

The boy was treated for head, back and neck injuries, and has been arrested on suspicion of burglary.

His injuries are described as "serious but not life threatening".

Reg Haye, watch commander at Chadderton Station, said: "We didn’t know until about 45 minutes later that there was nobody in the clubhouse so we used thermal imaging cameras to search the building, which obviously proved negative.

"We used water jets to dilute the petrol and managed to get him out as quickly as possible. He was very lucky.

"If the building involved was a house we could have been left with fatalities."

Norman Travis, the golf club secretary, said: "How the lad wasn’t killed I have no idea. He has gone through the hedge and hit the side of the clubhouse and the ground and first floor stairwell has completely collapsed.

"No events have had to be cancelled, but we cannot believe the mess this has caused. The main effect was the loss of the stairway, which means there is no access to the lockers downstairs. We have had to provide extra locker space upstairs."

The golf club has about 700 members.

Click on the video window for Channel M's report ...