THE parents of a teenager who was left with critical head injuries after a car crash have spoken of their relief after his condition started to improve.

Thomas Maylor, 17, of Whitecroft View, Baxenden, has been taken out of the critical care unit of the Royal Preston Hospital after the accident more than three weeks ago.

The student at St Mary's College, Blackburn, was on a life support machine but is now breathing for himself in a neurological ward, although he is yet to regain consciousness.

Dad Stephen said: "We are not going to get excited until he sits up or says something but this is very encouraging.

"It is a big step to leave the critical care ward and we hope he will continue to progress."

Parents Stephen and Marie, along with sisters, Emily, 16, and Ruby, nine, have been keeping a bedside vigil since the accident on June 4.

Stephen added: "Thomas is in a desperate situation but everything seems to have stabilised now.

"Our focus now is making sure that he recovers consciousness.

"The doctors here have a phrase where they always say "wait and see". That is all we can do now."

He said Thomas is now moving his arms, fingers and toes, which shows that he has not suffered any paralysis.

Thomas, a former pupil at Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School, Oswaldtwistle, was travelling in the car with three other teenagers at the time of the accident on Haslingden Old Road at 3am on June 4.

Two of the teenagers escaped with minor whiplash injuries. But a back-seat passenger was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary with serious cuts to his face.

Police have said that they are not treating the accident as suspicious.