A MINEHEAD couple walked away unscathed from the wreckage of their car after it hurtled through the grounds of a North Hill hotel and dropped at least 70ft to a cliff-top footpath below. The unscheduled 60-yard shortcut from their home to a meal out left businessman and community campaigner Graham Sizer and his wife Angela shaken but, incredibly, with little more than a few bruises. The drama, which also resulted in a broken wristwatch - still displaying the exact time the car came to its final resting place - happened as they set off for a meal at a local pub on Tuesday evening. The sequence of events began as Angela, aged 59, got into the driving seat of her prized Millennium limited edition Ford Ka. Believing it had been left in neutral, she put her foot on the accelerator as she turned the ignition on, only to discover it was in fact in first gear. The bright yellow car, just ten inches away from the edge of the couple's raised parking area outside their Mount Royal home, immediately lunged forward and dropped ten feet to the road below. With Angela's foot frozen on the controls, it shot across Weirfield Road, through the top hedge of the Channel House Hotel and bounced across its steeply sloping garden before bursting through the bottom hedge and down a steep embankment to the 'zig-zag' footpath. It finally became lodged against a massive ash tree. As the airbags inflated with the impact and the couple realised they had had a miraculous escape, they could only hug each other. "Luckily we were able to open both the doors and scramble out," said 55-year-old Graham, less than 24 hours after the ordeal. "It probably only lasted about ten seconds but that's long enough to see your life going in front of you. "There wasn't really time to think about it while it was happening. I could hear the revs of the engine going as we sped along but everything seemed to be in slow motion." Amazingly, the car remained upright throughout its unplanned journey, despite demolishing the hotel washing line and one side of a set of stone steps, 'grazing' some cherry trees and damaging a number of plants. The drama was witnessed by hotel owner Jackie Jackman, who was in the kitchen with her co-owner and husband Brian, serving an evening meal to 16 guests. "I heard a thud and all I could see was this bouncing car flying past just yards from the window," she said. "At first I thought it was just an empty car but when we all ran out and down the garden we saw Angie getting out of the car, followed by Graham. "The vehicle was blocking the path completely and there was smoke pouring from the back. "How they got out alive I will never know." Mrs Jackman ran back to the hotel to call the emergency services and warn the guests there would be a slight delay with their meals. "Although I saw them get out, I had no idea whether they were injured or not. "Fortunately all our guests were regulars so were very understanding. "I was just shaking like a leaf - we all were - but we were just so relieved that Graham and Angie were safe." Police and paramedics were on the scene within minutes and, after being checked over in the ambulance, the couple were allowed to go home. "Everyone was fantastic,' said Graham. "I think we owe the guests at the hotel a pint for the disruption and the Jackmans at least a few new pansies. "We realise how lucky we were and if we hadn't been wearing our seat belts I'm sure we would have been killed." The car, Angela's pride and joy, was extensively damaged and has been declared a write-off, leaving her husband trying to find a replacement for the rare model. Graham, who runs Minehead Radio and is also chairman of the action group DIRECT, said he thought at first his wife was simply looking for a shortcut and a more direct route to the seafront. "It was certainly not how I expected the evening to turn out - not surprisingly, we decided to give the meal at the pub a miss." Photos: Steve Guscott.