A FATHER has been told he is lucky to be alive after his car smashed into a jack-knifed lorry at 70mph.

Alan Dorrington, 33, of Rosehill Road, Burnley, was driving back from work in the outside lane of the Haslingden bypass when a lorry twisted across the carriageway and left him with nowhere else to go.

Fire crews who attended the accident told Alan he was lucky to be alive and were even more amazed that he had walked out of his mangled car.

Alan, a father-of-three, who works as a project worker for the Children's Society in Manchester, said: "The lorry jack-knifed right in front of me. At first I thought it was a burst tyre as there was loads of tyre smoke.

"It stopped very quickly and cut off the outer lane. I knew I was going to hit it and I knew that I was going to hit it hard.

"I didn't have any time to think and I went straight into the cabin. There was nothing I could have done."

"The airbag went off. After the impact my first thought was that I was still conscious and the second thought was to get out so I got out myself and walked about.

"I was told by all the fire crew that I was exceptionally lucky to get out alive. I think they were quite impressed.

He added: "Everybody behind me had panicked more than I had because they had seen the crash."

The accident, which occurred at 5.15pm on Tuesday, June 18, caused a 10-mile tailback on the north-bound route at Rising Bridge, with the road being closed for an hour.

Alan spent three days in Burnley General Hospital and is now recovering at home from internal injuries.