By PAUL SIMS

Last updated at 10:51 07 January 2008

It isn't unknown for neighbours to move in on next door's parking space.

But they usually wait until the other car has gone first.

Billy Dent, 77, broke with tradition by accidentally driving his red Toyota on to the top of the white Vauxhall Vectra parked outside the home of next-door neighbours Michael and Louise Taylor.

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He is thought to have got his foot stuck between the pedals of his automatic car, reversed into a lamppost which collapsed on top of the

Vectra, then used it as a ramp to travel half way up it before coming to a halt.

Mr Taylor rang the fire brigade who spent 45 minutes cutting his neighbour from the wreckage outside their homes in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland.

Mr Dent was then lifted to the ground and taken to hospital with an injured ankle along with his 73-year- old wife, Isobel, who suffered an angina attack owing to the shock. Their car has since been winched from the top of the Vectra and towed away. Both vehicles are believed to be write-offs.

"At first we thought it was motorbikes revving their engines outside but then there was an almighty crash," said Mr Taylor, a 55-year-old decorator. 'We couldn't get out of the front door as the car was right up against the house. I was talking to Billy from the front door and telling him to sit still as he was in shock and very distressed."