A WOMAN leapt from a van on to a busy motorway to rescue a driver who had collapsed at the wheel of a moving car.
Neeley Lewis was on her way back from lunch with her boyfriend on the M6 when a car in front of them swerved across from the left lane and hit a four-wheel drive towing a trailer.
The A Class Silver Mercedes then veered off into the fast lane, bounced off the central reservation barriers and back over to the left lane near the Preston junction.
As the drama unfolded in front of her, Miss Lewis realised something must be wrong with the driver — and decided to act.
The 30-year-old jumped out of her seat on the passenger side of her boyfriend’s van, ran on to the motorway and tried open the runaway car’s door, which had slowed down to a walking pace to rescue the 65-year-old female driver, who was convulsing and vomiting.
Miss Lewis, of Heatons Grove, Westhoughton, said: “I was running alongside it as I tried to open the door but it was badly damaged from the crash so I ran round to the other side and managed to get inside, pull the car into the hard shoulder and put the hand brake on.”
Miss Lewis is an experienced first aider and was able to help the woman while her partner phoned for an ambulance.
An off-duty Highways Agency officer and passing female driver also stopped to call the police.
Miss Lewis, who works at BOC Gases in Worsley, said: “Looking back, it could have been a major pile-up on the motorway and even at that time there was still a lot of traffic.
“All I could think is that we need to get her off the motorway. I think it was because of my first aid training that I was able to stay calm and help her. ”
The driver was taken by ambulance to the Royal Preston Hospital.
It is not the first time Miss Lewis has helped people in an emergency.
During a trip to Sydney in Australia last year, she was first on the scene at a motorbike accident.
Miss Lewis added: “I would urge as many people as possible to do basic first aid training because you never know when you might need it.”
A Lancashire Police spokesman added: “Police were called at 1.55pm to reports of five cars on the hard shoulder and a woman having an epileptic fit.
“An off-duty highways officer had managed to get to the hard shoulder and call the police. An ambulance was already on the scene. Lane one was closed on the motorway until 2.25pm.”
Regional director for St John’s Ambulance, Heather Arrowsmith, says Miss Lewis’s brave action show how vital it is for people to have first aid training.
She added: “It gives you the confidence and skills to act in an emergency and potentially be the difference between life and death.”
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