QUICK-THINKING factory workers sprang into action to grab a man after a stolen car was involved in a horrifying head-on crash on a busy Bolton road.

The man was held after a stolen Ford Orion car careered out of control and ploughed into a van on the wrong side of Derby Street, on the outskirts of the town centre.

The driver struggled free from the wreckage and fled leaving a passenger trapped semi conscious in the stolen car. The factory workers from Centredart Ltd - who were playing football in their lunch hour - heard the crash and saw a man running away from the scene being chased by two police officers. The mill employees gave chase and blocked off the man's escape route before wrestling him to the ground.

The incident happened yesterday lunchtime after a team of undercover police officers from the Bolton Central Police Crime Support Unit spotted two men breaking into an Orion Ghia car on the car park of Morrison's supermarket. The driver and passenger were taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital after the crash but were released last night.

The driver of the van involved was not injured.

A 26-year-old man was due to appear before Bolton magistrates today charged with aggravated vehicle theft, disqualified driving and driving without insurance.

A man, aged 23, is also facing a charge of aggravated vehicle theft.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.