Wellington  - A woman driver lost control on a bend, crashed into a house - and then opened a bottle of beer, a newspaper reported on Friday.

Vicky Johnson told the Dominion Post that she was sitting in her garden when the car ploughed into the side of her house in the Napier suburb of Maraenui.

Johnson said she asked the woman driver if she was okay. "She said, 'Yeah,' then cracked open a bottle of Tui (a local beer), right in front of all the kids, too. It was unbelievable."

Johnson called the police, who arrested the 40-year-old driver and charged her with drunk driving. (dpa)