FOR the second time in 18 months, a car has ploughed into the front of the Earl of Normanton public house, in Boscombe village, near Amesbury.

The latest crash, which left a teenage driver with a broken collarbone, the front of the pub badly damaged and two firefighters slightly injured, happened in the early hours of Friday morning.

The 19-year-old driver, who lives in the Boscombe Down area of Amesbury, was driving along the A338, Tidworth Road, through Boscombe village, just after 2.30am, when his car left the road on the sharp bend outside the pub.

Landlords Alan and Nicola Howe and their son Daniel were asleep upstairs, when they were woken up by a loud crash.

Nicola told the Journal: "We heard the crash and sounds coming from the central heating.

"We went down to find the car had crashed through one of the front bay windows, ripping the radiator off the wall and had ended up inside the room.

"The tables and chairs were all over the place, with glass, debris and a broken radiator.

"The young man was still sitting in his car when we came down.

"As he was getting out, I dialled the emergency services and then went to help him.

"He was holding his shoulder and was obviously shaken, so I got his home number from him and rang his parents."

Nicola and her husband then looked after the driver until all three emergency services arrived. An ambulance took him to Salisbury district hospital, where he was detained with neck injuries.

Firefighters from Amesbury and Salisbury, and an emergency tender from Warminster, began making sure the front of the pub was secure.

While they were clearing away the debris, part of the wall surrounding the large bay window partially collapsed.

Two firefighters were slightly hurt.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Fire Brigade said both men were based in Salisbury.

One of them went to hospital. He was not detained, but received treatment for an injured arm.

As workmen finished boarding up the gaping hole where the bay window once was, Nicola said: "We've got a couple of bookings this morning, so we have to be ready by noon.

"Then we continue business as usual - as best we can."

Nicola and her husband have been running the Earl of Normanton for just over six years.

In October 2002, a car left the road about 6am one day and ploughed into the pub's other bay window, before bouncing off and ending up back on the main road.