A MAN from Chorley was killed on the M6 motorway yesterday after running onto the carriageway apparently to retrieve his pet dog.

Michael Garfin, 39, was struck by a lorry on the northbound carriageway of the motorway at Charnock Richard as his wife and two children looked on from the hard shoulder.

Emergency services were called to the scene at 12.05pm.

Mr Garfin had been involved in an earlier road collision after which his light blue Audi A4 estate left the carriageway and hit a lamp-post before going down an embankment into trees.

Police said Mr Garfin and family were on the hard shoulder of the motorway when he ventured onto the carriageway, possibly in an attempt to retrieve his German Shepherd dog.

Mr Garfin sustained multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are now trying to establish the sequence of events which led to the HGV striking Mr Garfin.

A spokesman for the North West Ambulance Service said one of the girls was flown to Royal Preston Hospital by air ambulance and is being treated for facial and head injuries sustained in the prior collision.

Mrs Garfin and her other daughter suffered cuts and bruises.

The dog is still missing.

Traffic police later posted electronic matrix notices on the M6 warning of an animal on the carriageway.

Sgt Dave Tonge, of Lancashire Police, said: "I would appeal for anyone who has seen the blue Audi leave the carriageway or, more importantly, has seen the man on the hard shoulder and subsequently run out into the carriageway, to get in touch with us."

Anyone with information should call police on 0845 1 25 35 45