A FAMILY from Tyldesley were just a mile away from a planned trip up the twin towers of the World Trade Centre when terrorists struck New York.

Town centre shopkeeper Lynda Hilton, her husband, Geoff, their 13-year-old daughter, Amanda, eight-year-old niece, Lydia Naylor and Lynda's 75-year-old dad, retired coal merchant Steve Gaskell won't ever forget the horror in Manhattan.

With family friend Evelyn Kilgannon they had begun began their fortnight's holiday of a lifetime on September 1 starting with an ocean cruise from Southampton to New York where they planned to spend a few days before driving to visit relatives in Canada.

The family were in a cafe having breakfast a mile from the twin towers when the first hi-hacked plane hit one of the towers they were planning to visit just hours later.

Lynda, who owns Arts and Flowers on Elliott Street, Tyldesley recalled: "We didn't hear anything as all the buildings are soundproof, but as soon as we stepped outside we could smell burning and see smoke. Fire, police and ambulance sirens were blaring and building alarms were going off.

"We knew something had happened, but didn't know what. We went back to the hotel and turned on the TV - at first we thought it was a film, then we watched in horror as the second plane struck.

"We were supposed to be leaving for Canada later that day, but had planned to go up the towers first."

Eight hour crawl

Although the authorities were advising people to stay indoors the group raced to pick up their hire car and set off on an eight hour crawl away from Manhattan.

"All we felt was sheer panic," Lynda said. "Our first reaction was to get out of Manhattan, we were scared that if the towers collapsed it could cause a domino effect on other buildings.

"It was just like driving through a film set, people were hysterical - screaming and crying. They were all standing on their roofs trying to see what had happened. The scariest bit was the American Air Force fighter planes circling the island."

The group headed north and spent the night in a hotel, but were unable to sleep.

"We couldn't ring home to tell people we were okay," Lynda explained. "It was such a strange day, it was like living a dream. I had mixed emotions but had to be strong for the children. I think we all had a tear in private."

Once in Canada they felt safe and their thoughts turned to getting home. The flight out of JFK was cancelled because the airport was closed.

"We contacted British Airways, who were only able to tell us it was cancelled until further notice. We didn't know what to do and so contacted P&O Ferries who were absolutely fantastic!" Lynda explained. "They managed to get us on to a ship leaving Boston on the same day we should have left. It meant we had a 10-day extension to our holiday and they didn't charge us a penny.

"I rang to say thank you when we returned. They really looked after us. It was Amanda's 13th birthday while we were on the ship - they made such a fuss of her, it really made her day.

"We set off to have the holiday of a lifetime and thanks to the generosity of P&O Ferries we were still able to do that."