A DANGEROUS driver has been told he was lucky not to have killed someone when he smashed his car into a parked vehicle with such force that it was shunted into the front of a house.

Graham Burton was speeding along a country road before losing control of his Vauxhall and crashing into the stationary car at Smithy Row, near East Fortune.

Burton’s vehicle careered into the the silver Volkswagen with such force that the parked car ended up embedded in the front of a nearby cottage.

The crash left the building’s front porch totally destroyed and caused extensive damage to both vehicles on July 13.

READ MORE: Cottage badly damaged in car crash

Burton, 48, has now been banned from the road and told he must complete the extended driving test before he is allowed back on the road following a court hearing this week.

Images taken following the crash show the destroyed porch at the front of the cottage, along with the badly damaged Volkswagen that had been parked on the road outside the property.

The porch of a home at Smithy Row was destroyed in the crash (Image: Newsquest)

Burton’s abandoned red Vauxhall Corsa can also be seen on the opposite side of the road from the cottage, surrounded by yellow police cones.

Both damaged vehicles can be seen following the crash (Image: Newsquest)

The father-of-two pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving when he appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month and he was back in the dock for sentencing last Wednesday.

Burton, of Haddington Road, Tranent, also had a plea of not guilty to driving while over the legal alcohol limit during the same incident accepted by the Crown.

Sheriff Charles Walls said: “This was a bad incident of driving you have pled guilty to.

“You impacted a stationary vehicle so much so that it was pushed into a porch. It is fortunate no one was injured or even killed.”

READ MORE: Man charged after incident which damaged cottage

Sheriff Walls banned Burton from driving for two years and told him he must sit and pass the extended driving test before he can drive again.

The sheriff also fined the Royal Mail worker a total of £640 and imposed a community payback order where Burton will be placed under the supervision of the social work department for the next 12 months.

Burton pleaded guilty to driving a vehicle dangerously by driving at excessive speed, entering the opposite carriageway when it was unsafe to do so, losing control of his vehicle and striking a parked vehicle at the junction of the B1347 and B1377 in East Lothian on July 13.