Blackpool man pulled crash victim from wrecked car on M55

The scene of the crash yesterday. Picture by Stuart Caddick

Stuart Caddick, 30, was driving home from a day's work in Morecambe when he saw the blue Corsa swerve out of control and collide with a Mercedes car near junction 3 of the M55 at Kirkham at around 4.30pm yesterday.

He used his BT Openreach van to stop traffic driving into the wreckage before helping the 'stunned' driver out of his car.

He said: "The traffic at that junction, I hate. Everyone was queuing on the inside lane. You could see the cars starting to slow, but the car in front just didn't. He tried to swerve out and ended up rolling over.

"The car landed on its roof.

"I parked across the second lane and put my flashing lights on. Then I got to the car and opened the door; I switched the engine off and switched the radio off.

"The first thing I asked the guy was if he had hurt his head or neck. He said he hadn't.

"He was fine but just a bit dazed and in shock. My main thought was to get him out, so I un-clicked his seat belt and got his legs out and dragged him out."

Emergency services were called and the man was taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital with 'no major injuries'.

Severe delays of 25 minutes and an average speed of 5mph was reported shortly after 5pm as a result of the crash. At 5.45pm, motorway police tweeted: “Vehicles involved in the collision on #M55 westbound J1 - J3 have been moved to the hard shoulder and all lanes have re-opened. Delays are starting to clear.”

Stuart, a phone engineer, said: "Something needs to be done about that junction and I have seen people commenting about it before on The Gazette's Facebook page. It's a bad junction and people have died there."

People on social media also criticised the junction.

Beverley Joyce Allen Sloan said: "When will people ever learn? There was a major crash there few months ago and some poor man died, people need to take more care."

Yvonne Archer said: "It doesn't surprise me, drivers putting their brakes on in middle lane to get off at Kirkham, then nipping into lane one, seen this plenty of times."