A PARTY of racegoers from Darwen had a rare bit of luck and escaped the chaos of the Grand National bomb alert.

One of the 15 passengers advised coach driver Frank Crookson to park at a pub near Aintree's famous Melling Road instead of joining the hundreds of other vehicles parked inside the racecourse.

The advice proved a blessing and Frank was able to drive his way out of the massed throngs as 60,000 people were forced to evacuate the course 30 minutes before the race was due to start.

Frank, who works for Blakewater Coach Hire, Blackburn, said: "I was very lucky. All my people made it back to the coach by about 4pm and we got out straight away.

"The scene was utter chaos. Nobody knew what was happening. I was the only coach parked in the pub car park and I think I must have been the only one to get out." Thousands of other punters were unlucky in the IRA scare

Many were left stranded in Liverpool on Saturday night and had to spend the night in makeshift accommodation before they could return to their cars yesterday.

Dennis Bradley, of Border Buses, Burnley, said one of its 53-seaters was left stranded overnight at the course. The passengers and the driver were forced to get back to East Lancashire on public transport on Saturday night.

Alison Birkett, of the Ribble Valley Carriage Company, Padiham, also had a 20-seater coach stranded. She said: "We haven't heard how our passengers got home, but I hope they returned safely."

Hundreds more East Lancashire racegoers were forced to leave their cars and find other ways to get home.

Most got trains and buses while others hailed cabs or telephoned relatives to pick them up.

They had to return yesterday to pick up their cars and any cars not collected were towed away to a pound to keep the area clear.

Race organisers were expecting a much smaller crowd of about 10,000 for today's rescheduled race.

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