Scene of destruction

Twisted metal and glass littered Church Road, Doffcocker, after the dramatic car crash outside St Peter's Church, minutes before the start of an evening service.

Amazingly there were no major casualties in the smash in which cars were written off, a garden wall smashed down and a lamp post toppled.

Minutes earlier the street had been packed with churchgoers. Today church bosses admitted congregation members had been lucky not to get caught up in the mayhem at 6.30pm.

The Rev Mark Smith said: "It's a busy time on a Sunday evening so a few minutes either way could have made a big difference."

And today Church Road residents, urged council bosses to erect warning signs on the bend where the crash occurred, amid fears of future crashes.

Police appealed for the driver of the Fiat Tipo involved in the crash to come forward, with traffic unit officers admitting it had been amazing that no one was seriously injured.

The accident happened when the driver of the Tipo lost control as it rounded a bend on Church Road, near its junction with St Peter's Avenue, heading towards Bolton town centre.

It collided with a Ford Sierra estate, driven by David Kenyon, 38, of Albert Road, West, Bolton, which was travelling in the opposite direction.

Both cars were extensively damaged. The Sierra then collided with a Volvo S40, driven by Stephen Booth, 41, of Milnthorpe, Smithills, which received only slight damage.

The Fiat car went on to collide with a parked Honda Civic and Toyota Starlet, with both cars being badly damaged.

The Starlet then smashed into a parked Volkswagen Polo, which itself smashed into a stationary Renault Clio, which was shunted into a parked Nissan Bluebird. There were no occupants in those four cars.

It is believed some of the parked cars damaged in the smash belonged to St Peter's congregation members who ran to the scene after hearing the crash.

Fire crews were called to the scene and station officer Dave Pimblett adding: "It looked like carnage".

Amazingly Mr Kenyon was the only casualty, receiving minor bruising to his leg, but he was not detained in hospital following treatment.

A passenger in the Fiat Tipo, 20-year-old Mark Gibson, escaped without injury.

Ronald Bradley, 76, who was walking his dog at the time of the smash, said: "It's a bad bend and the council should put up warning signs.

"When it happened it sounded like an explosion. There were eight cars which had just smashed into each other."

Sgt Ken Carter, of Bolton Traffic Unit, said: "It could have been a tragic accident. It could have been far worse.

"In these kind of situations you can't just consider people in vehicles, it's also about the risk of injury to pedestrians."

Traffic police are urging the driver of the Fiat Tipo to contact them in connection with the accident and any witnesses should contact police officers on 0161 856 5972.