Runaway truck ploughs into home on the Gold Coast

Robert Butler and his four young children were standing in the living room when the rig rolled through the wall of their garage.

“I was hanging the washing out in the backyard and walked inside with the kids and we heard a bang,” Butler said.

The family was enjoying school holidays at the time.

“They love mucking around in the garage, riding their scooters and rollerblades,” Butler said.

“So lucky they were inside at the time.”

There was no truck driver behind the wheel when it rolled 25 metres down the street.

“He said he swore he put his handbrake on,” Butler said.

“He went inside his house, and then he came out and the truck was gone.”

The vehicle slammed straight into the property’s power switchboard and turned an extraction exercise into an electrical hazard for emergency services.

Fire crews declared the home as safe to enter three hours later.