Horror road smash traps family

The accident happened on Blindfoot Lane, Rainford, just after 7pm. The lone driver of the Vauxhall Cavalier involved in the crash was not seriously injured, but firecrews and an emergency medical team battled for 90 minutes to rescue two of the children and the father from the family's Ford Sierra.

Emergency crews were at the crash scene within minutes, thanks to a woman driver from Wigan who had witnessed the accident and used her mobile phone to alert them.

Firefighters used specialist cutting equipment to take the roof off the car to rescue two of the children, one of whom, a seven-year-old boy had suffered serious head injuries.

Once the children had been rescued the emergency crews were able to concentrate on freeing the father, who had been taking his family to visit friends when the accident happened. The force of the impact on the driver's side of the car had pushed the side of the car in causing the fascia to buckle around the 33-year-old man, trapping his feet in pedals.

To free him firefighters had to remove the driver's door, rip out the fascia and bend the steering column. The extra room meant that the emergency crews could lay the father on his back and lift him manually onto a waiting stretcher.

He was then taken to Whiston Hospital suffering from head and arm injuries.His condition is now described as stable.

The seven-year-old boy who suffered serious head injuries was taken to Alder Hey Hospital - his condition was initially thought to be life threatening - but he is now described as stable.

Whiston Hospital have described the condition of the nine-year-old and three-year-old boys as quite comfortable and the mother, aged 27, is said to be stable.

The driver of the Vauxhall Cavalier was not detained in hospital and police are currently carrying out inquiries into the cause of the accident.

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