Four passengers suffered minor injuries and soreness after taking a ride in a runaway minivan Saturday night.

The passengers, aged three to 66, were in a 2006 Dodge Caravan parked in a driveway on Dalgleish Drive just after 8 p.m. Saturday night when the vehicle owner was about to embark.

Before the 43-year-old Kamloops man could take the wheel, the Caravan mysteriously began rolling backwards down the driveway.

The owner later told police the engine was off, the gearshift was in park and the park brake was engaged when the van started rolling.

As the van picked up speed, the 66-year-old passenger, the owner's mother, jumped out the door from her middle rear seat and tumbled down a grassy embankment.

That left her three-year-old granddaughter and five-year-old grandson buckled up in the rear seats and a 16-year-old family acquaintance in the front right passenger seat.

The Caravan continued on its course, sideswiping a 1998 Nissan and finally crashing into a house at 460 Dalgleish Drive.

The woman suffered injuries to her back and was later treated and released at Royal Inland Hospital. The other passengers reported stiffness and soreness.

The building incurred moderate external damage, said police. The degree of structural damage is still being assessed.

Police impounded the van for a mechanical inspection.