Car-ram boxer: We were lucky to live

BOXER Andy Kremner and his girlfriend Nicola Mellor were both injured in a hit and run incident

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BOXER Andy Kremner and his girlfriend say they're lucky to be alive after escaping an horrific hit and run car smash on Saturday night.

The pair say they were driving along Huddersfield Road when a black Audi, reportedly travelling at around 80mph, ploughed into the back of them before the driver abandoned his vehicle on Oldham Way and ran off.

The welter-weight fighter - who has only just made a return to the ring following 18 months of career-threatening injury - blacked out following the collision and said he came round to hear his girlfriend, Nicola Mellor, yelling at him to get out of the car as smoked poured out of it.

Luckily a passing off-duty fireman took charge of the situation and got the pair to safety while calling for paramedics and police. They were also helped by taxi drivers who witnessed the accident.

Paramedics put them in braces and they were stretchered into an ambulance and taken to Royal Oldham Hospital.

Andy suffered concussion and deep tissue bruising to his back but was given the OK by doctors following a head scan. Nicola suffered head and shoulder injuries and both were released from hospital on Sunday.

Andy has now been forced to pull out of his next professional fight at Oldham Leisure Centre, on July 29, but says he's just grateful they're both still here to tell the tale.

"We were lucky an off-duty firefighter was passing after it had happened," said Andy (24), from Delph.

"He sorted us out and sat us on the side of the road and called the emergency services. He said it's a good job we were moving when the car hit us as it helped to take some of the impact. If we'd been stationary it would have been a completely different story.

"We often look after my two-year-old twin nieces at the weekend and I just can't bear to think about what would have happened had they been in the back.

"I blacked out and next thing I remember is seeing loads of smoke and my girlfriend just shouting at me to get out of the car. She stumbled and fell out and then the firefighter arrived and got us to sit by the side of the road.

"I'm just so thankful to the firefighter and the taxi drivers who went out of their way to help us.

"To think someone could do that and then run off not knowing what's happened to the people involved."

Andy says although they're thankful not to have been more seriously injured he and Nicola feel angry their lives have been turned upside down.

"We feel lucky to be alive but we're also very angry about what's happened," he said.

"I'm now injured and unable to fight and that's my income. Nicola is injured and can't work and her car is a complete write-off.

"I need a full examination followed by physio on my back. I've just got back to fitness following a shoulder injury and this is the last thing I need."

Nicola (25), from Lees, who works as a shipping clerk at Manchester Airport, said it was a terrifying experience.

"It was like being in a film, none of it seems real," said Nicola.

"We could have been seriously injured or worse. The car I spent five years paying for has gone and I've got no way of getting to work and Andy can't box now so he can't earn any money."