A FORMER police officer sank up to her waist in a slurry lagoon while trying to rescue her dog.

Nicola Hopkins considers herself lucky to have been able to free herself from the mud hole which she stumbled across while walking on colliery wasteland at Plank Lane in Leigh.

Now she is calling danger areas to be fenced and warning signs to be put on the site which is earmarked for a multi million pound upgrade.

"I had a very lucky escape but it could have had a very different ending," said a shaken Nicola, an ex-Ministry of Defence policewoman who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and retired on health grounds.

She had driven from her home in the Slag Lane area of Lowton and parked her car in Crankwood Road to take a stroll with her dog, Barney, on a route she has followed for the past 10 months since she got the cocker spaniel as a puppy.

Nicola, aged 39, said: "It was mid-morning and Barney ran ahead.

"He went into some reeds and I could see he was sinking up to his stomach in the mud so I went to pull him out but I just sank in deep.

"Soon it was up to my waist and I was shouting for help because there were some workmen with a drilling rig about 300 yards away, but nobody could hear me.

"After about 10 minutes I was able to get free because of my upper body strength, but a child may not have been so lucky."

Meanwhile, Barney had struggled free from the mud and Nicola had to use all her skill as a police dog handler to prevent him going back in to the slurry.

Freezing cold and covered in thick, grey slime Nicola struggled back to her car with a bedraggled Barney relieved to be back on firm ground.

English Partnerships, which manages the colliery wasteland, was unavailable for comment.