COOL it! - is the advice to young drivers after the latest in a spate of horrific car crashes in the Atherton area.

A newly installed pedestrian barrier probably saved bystanders from serious injury on Sunday night when a car overturned in Atherton town centre.

Miraculously nobody was badly hurt when a blue XR3i Ford Escort ended-up on its roof in Market Street.

But onlookers were horrified when immediately after the crash a red Escort van spun round and raced off at high speed in the wrong direction.

Bystander Steve Barrington, 37, of Cambridge Street, Atherton had a lucky escape, suffering a cut head and bruises as the car ploughed into a barrier.

And Joseph Smith, 29, of Dorset Road, Hag Fold, suffered a broken nose when the Leisure Time entertainment shop sign fell on him.

They and shocked car driver John Griffiths, 22, of Argyll Street, Atherton received hospital treatment but were not detained.

Quick-thinking nanny Angela Wadsworth, of Wigan Road, Atherton, rushed from the restaurant where she and fiancee Alan Hilton had just finished an evening meal.

She tended Mr Barrington's injuries until paramedics, police and firefighters arrived. Angela told The Journal:"I heard a crash then saw a van race past going along Market Street in the wrong direction.

"I saw the car on its roof in front of the video shop. I went to help the man who looked worst. He was on his knees and had a two inch long, deep gash in his forehead above his left eye.

"He said he saw the car coming at him, somersaulting, and remembered being thrown against the shop wall and window.

"Someone brought me water and a cloth and I kept him talking until the emergency services arrived about 10 minutes later.

"It seems everybody is going mad. Young drivers have been involved in four serious accidents in this area in recent weeks. Fortunately in this case innocent people were not badly hurt."

Police are to interview the drivers.

In response to Angela's concerns, head of Leigh Police Supt Malcolm Howells said:"Often the Police are tolerant of all drivers, young and old, as they learn new skills.

"Nevertheless there is a responsibility for everybody to realise a car is a killing machine if used irresponsibly.

"It is more likely that youngsters don't appreciate some of the dangers but think only of the exhilaration of driving a vehicle too fast.

"If they have plans to do that they must get on a track.

"We will not shrink from doing what is necessary to curb exuberance."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.