A young couple last night told how they had to throw themselves out of the path of a van as it careered towards them, demolishing their front wall and crushing their wheelie bin.

Cheryl Lawes, 19, and Steven Girling, 21, of Wolseley Road, Southtown, Great Yarmouth, were chatting to their neighbour Vicky, a young mother, on their doorstep when the drama unfolded at about 11am on Thursday.

Miss Lawes described how they saw a man sitting in a van opposite them in Station Road. She said: 'After five or 10 minutes he reversed up the road and after going round the block we saw him coming down Wolseley Road towards us.

'The van was going at a normal speed and we thought he was going to park up and start a row.

'But then it swerved towards us and demolished our wall, only coming to a stop when it became wedged against our wheelie bin.'

Miss Lawes said she had tripped over in the panic and had to crawl out of the van's path to avoid being hit.

She said the driver then calmly reversed and drove to the nearby entrance of Homebase.

'We thought he was going to come back for a second attempt and Vicky shouted at us to come in her house,' she said. Miss Lawes said the noise of the crash had startled neighbours who were leaning out of windows to see what was going on.

She said two of her neighbour's friends were slightly injured in the incident, one cut by the flying bricks and one hurting his hand on the van.

The young mother, who is thought to know her attacker, is being looked after by the police and has been found temporary accommodation.

Chief Insp Rickie Botwright said they were examining CCTV footage from a nearby industrial premises and a worker from there, who had been outside on a cigarette break, had given a witness statement.

He said: 'We are carrying out house-to-house inquiries, but this is a busy area and we are keen to speak to anyone who may have seen the van in the area, possibly in the days leading up to the incident.'

He said police were still trying to locate an Iveco van, which has the registration MF52 JFK, and are keen to hear from witnesses.

A 29-year-old local man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and was last night still being interviewed by detectives.