Van ploughs through fields, fences and into home

A bizarre accident in Adelaide has seen a van roll backwards down a hill, over an embankment, through two fences and into the front of a home.

The van's owner told 9NEWS he parked the vehicle at a home up the street but the brakes failed just before 9pm yesterday at Hallett Cove.

The driver chased the van but he was not able to catch up to it before it smashed through the front yard and into a wall of a home on Barndoo Street.

The home owner was still at work at the time but was relieved the damage to her property was minimal.

Home owner Linda Stranger said it was "very lucky, I don't think I would have liked to have a seen a van coming straight at me if I'd been out in the garden".