Shocked householders thought a bomb had dropped when burglars fleeing a chemist shop break-in lost control of their car and careered into their home.

Tony and Anne Cahalin woke with a jolt at about 2am today as a bungling getaway driver mounted a pavement, careered into a lamp post - completely uprooting it - and crashed into their front door.

Two youths seen running away are thought to have ram-raided a nearby chemist's shop moments earlier.

The front window of Selles Chemist, in Pocklington town centre, was smashed in the drama.

Police called to the scene found a knife and cosh in the abandoned stolen Cavalier, along with perfume stolen in the raid.

Mr and Mrs Cahalin, of Deans Lane, Pocklington, said they were woken as the burglars fled.

Mrs Cahalin said: "We heard a loud explosion that seemed that it was literally under our bedroom. It seemed to go on for a long time and was followed by another very loud explosion and a blue flash which was presumably the electricity cables being severed. We did not know what was happening. It sounded like somebody had just dropped a bomb.

"We opened the window and saw a car on the pavement with its bonnet open and smoke pouring out. We thought the car was going to explode."

Mrs Cahalin saw two youths climb from the smouldering wreckage and stumble away. Firefighters were called as a precaution but the car did not explode.

Chemist shop manager Brian Slater said: "It was a pre-Christmas raid. The same thing happened two years ago, but we have got all our stock back. You just have to live with these things."

Police despatched a helicopter to search for the fleeing youths but, despite one report of them rushing through a nearby garden, they could not be located.

Officers say the pair used the Cavalier to reverse through the chemist's window.

One youth was wearing a red hooded top and the other may have had on a striped rugby shirt.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the raid, the crash and the theft of the Cavalier in Brough yesterday to contact Goole police on 01405 721013.

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