A Hampshire family have been left homeless after a refuse lorry skidded out of control on an icy road and crashed into their thatched cottage yesterday.

The refuse lorry embedded itself in the front room of the cottage in Amport, near Andover at 8.30am.

The family, who have not been identified but include a man, his 52-year-old wife and their 15-year-old son, were not in the living room at the time and no one was injured.

The lorry driver, a 24-year-old man from Reading, also escaped unhurt.

A Hampshire police spokesman said: "The lorry slipped off a bend in the road and crashed into the living room of the cottage.

"Fortunately, none of the occupants were in the room at the time of the collision."

She added: "'None of these people, by some miracle, were injured."

One police officer described the icy conditions on the roads and footpaths in the area as "a nightmare for everyone at the scene" and the road has now been gritted.

The Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service was making the building safe and had enlisted specialist equipment and a structural engineer because of fears the cottage might collapse when the lorry was removed.

The mother and son were due to stay with neighbours while the husband was planning to return to the family home once it was made secure.