A DISTRAUGHT mother today re-lived the moment her husband helped to lift a car off her trapped six-year-old son and said: "My baby is lucky to be alive".

Robert West's dad Brent and three pub drinkers had to lift the Ford Granada Scorpio estate car off the little boy after he was dragged underneath after running into the road.

The accident happened at 5.50pm on Bank Holiday Monday when Robert ran from his home in Manchester Road, Haslingden, into the path of the car driven by Richard Lambert of Main Way, Middleton.

Robert's mum and dad Vanessa and Brent West, who were at home at the time, froze as they heard the smash and saw him fly up into the air before being dragged underneath the car.

Mrs West said: "I heard the crash and I just knew it must have been my baby Robert as he had just gone outside to go to the park with his brother.

"I thought he was dead. There was blood gushing out of his head. My son Brent junior ran into the Crown Inn to get help and three men helped my husband lift the car off him.

"It was horrific and Robert really is lucky to be alive, it is such a good job that the car driver wasn't speeding as I'm sure Robert would have been killed." Robert is being treated in Bury General Hospital for head, eye and back injuries and his condition is daid to be 'satisfactory'. Mrs West said: "The nurses say he is comfortable now, but his head is in a bit of a bad mess.

"He has had to have staples in his head, his back is badly cut and they think he may have damaged an eye. My husband is at the hospital waiting for an eye specialist to examine him."

Robert, a pupil at St James' Primary School, Haslingden, should have been returning to classes yesterday after the holiday, along with his brothers Carl, Shane, Brent, and his sister Tanya. But instead he faces a stay in hospital for surgery and tests.

Mrs West said: "I'll definitely be getting on to the council now to see if they can re-house us on a council estate instead of us living in private accommodation.

"I knew it was dangerous for me to live on a main road with five children, and I've been proved right now this has happened."

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