SCRAMBLES bike riders ferried paramedics across colliery wasteland in a frantic race to save the life of a seriously injured teenager.

Fifteen-year--old Martin Felton was riding a Honda MT50 trail bike involved in a head-on collision with another machine on Plank Lane rucks at Leigh. He is 'critical, but stable' at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

Martin, of Stout Street, Leigh had a 16-year-old pillion passenger on board when the accident happened on Sunday afternoon. At the time around two dozen riders were riding on the former Bickershaw Colliery site.

Neither the passenger nor the rider of the other machine were injured, but Martin -- who police confirmed was not wearing a crash helmet -- received serious head injuries, a fractured leg and chest injuries.

Rescue vehicles were hampered in reaching the accident scene so other riders ferried paramedics and Bolton Mountain Rescue team to the scene where the unconscious rider was given oxygen and emergency treatment before being airlifted by police helicopter to Hope Hospital at Salford.

Mountain Rescue leader Gary Rhodes said the motorcyclists were a massive help: "It was a difficult rescue but the motorcyclists were tremendous, ferrying and guiding our team, paramedics and equipment. The boy had been unconscious for 30 minutes. We gave him oxygen and treated him for a fractured femur and serious head injuries, and managed to stabilise him at the scene.

"We needed to get him to hospital as soon as possible, so we immediately requested an air ambulance which was unavailable, so a police helicopter stationed at Barton Airport was flown out. He was flown to De La Salle playing fields, near to Hope Hospital from where an ambulance took him to hospital. Paramedics and the Bolton Mountain Rescue team worked well together to give him the best possible care."

The accident, the second serious head-on collision on the site in recent years, has signalled a call to set-up a supervised area for the riders. This week loacl councillor Brian Jarvis, who lives a few hundred yards from the crash scene, called for a permanent solution to the problem of off-road bike activities throughout the Leigh area.

Tragic

Cllr Jarvis said: "It is tragic that this has happened and I hope the injured boy makes a full recovery. Myself and colleagues throughout the area receive many complaints about scrambles bikes and dangers -- to other people as well as the riders.

"There are two ways of tackling the problem, a complete crackdown -- but I'm not sure you could ever achieve that and stamp-out illegal off-road riding -- or to find a suitable site where riders would be supervised and there would be no nuisance problems.

"It would perhaps be better if there was a permanent area where they could ride, because it does seem a very popular activity."

Any witnesses are asked to contact the police on 0161 856 7273.