A TERRIFIED teenage girl was left stranded alone on the hard shoulder of a motorway for more than four hours in the dark after her car broke down.

Zoe Jackson, 19, was returning home from Lancaster University along the M6 on Monday evening when her Rover Metro cut out in a traffic queue caused by a serious accident involving a lorry.

Her worried mother, Marjorie, a secretary at Clive Hurley, Blackburn, has slammed the police and AA for failing to ensure the student's safety.

She said: "I became worried when I heard about the bad accident, and when she was late home I started to panic. What I am most angry about is that the police assured me Zoe had not broken down, which had me thinking something more terrible had happened to her. "I am also disgusted that despite being in the AA she was left alone on a busy motorway in the dark for so long."

Zoe, of Astley Village, Chorley, added: "It was a horrible experience and I was quite shaken-up by the time I got home. A family and a man had also broken down close to me and I couldn't believe it when the AA helped them and left me sitting in my car. I gave the police my details at 7pm so I was amazed they told my mum they didn't know anything about me two hours after that."

A police spokesperson said: "It seems like there was an unfortunate breakdown in communication, for which we sincerely apologise."

The AA explained that the problem in reaching Zoe was caused because the police refused them access to the hard shoulder because of the bad accident.

A spokesman said: "We will be contacting the family directly to apologise for any inconvenience."

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