A COUPLE said they had to rush their vows in a 15-minute wedding ceremony after a series of hire car mishaps.

Because bride Angela Banks was so late, the wedding march was played as she and husband Kevin LEFT St Peter’s Church in Mill Hill.

The couple said they had dreamed of the perfect wedding but their limousine driver turned up 40 minutes late, with a dirty car, which then had a flat tyre on the way to the church.

Legacy Limousines, which provided the car, however said the vehicle was 10 minutes late arriving at the house and any further delay was caused by alterations to the bride's dress.

The company did admit that the limousine had a flat tyre on the way to the church but said the vehicle was not dirty.

Angela said she wanted to make a spectacular arrival with her eight bridesmaids, mother and stepfather in her “dream car”, a 16-seater Hummer limousine.

But she said problems began a few days before the wedding when the Blackburn-based hire company called her to say the Hummer they had booked was no longer available.

On the day of the wedding she said the replacement limousine, a Lincoln Navigator, turned up at her Shadsworth home 40 minutes later than arranged and 10 minutes after the ceremony was due to begin at 1pm on Saturday.

The couple, who are both cleaners, have a receipt from the company saying the car was booked for 12.30pm.

Angela said that in Bolton Road, en route to the wedding, the driver announced the car had a flat tyre when already 20 minutes late.

Anxious relatives called Angela and her mother Dorothy Wicknall, in the wedding car, to tell them the registrar was preparing to leave for her next wedding.

Dorothy said the limo driver then told them the nearest replacement vehicle was 20 minutes away.

She said: “My daughter was in tears. All the bridesmaids were upset, particularly the little ones.

"We were also causing traffic chaos.

“He just told us to wait for the replacement, but our relatives had already pulled up across the way, waving at us.

“Then we discovered we were locked in. “We were screaming ‘let us out’ but he just stared.

"It was only when my son started to come over that he unlocked it.”

“The door wouldn’t open properly, because we were alongside a wall.

"Getting my daughter out, in her dress with her flowers, was a nightmare.

“Then we all had to dart across the road to the other cars.

"A very kind bus driver stopped the traffic for us. I can’t imagine what we must have looked like”.

Groom Kevin, 34, said he had arrived at St Peter’s two hours early because he was so nervous.

He said: “I got there at 11.30am, and the gates were still shut because I was so early.

“I was nervous, but then when it went past 1pm with no sign of her I got really worried.

"My mate called her bridesmaids who told him they’d had a flat tyre.

"We thought they were winding us up.

“When she finally arrived, it did feel rushed. I remember stammering my vows, but we kept calm to say the words to each other.”

Parish priest Father Anthony Dutton said: “Guests had to leave the wedding to go and rescue them.

"The registrar was very concerned about the time and whether she could stay but then they finally arrived.

“After all that had happened, they did seem quite shaken.

"We could have taken our time with the ceremony but for the registrar needing to catch a train for her next wedding.

"It is a shame, but we rearranged things so we only missed out the homily.”

Angela said: “I felt so out of breath. They were supposed to play music for me to go down the aisle, but there was no time for that.”

Her mum said: “They were playing the wedding march on her way out instead of for her entrance.

"We also missed the hymns. When the priest announced them man and wife, I remember thinking ‘Thank goodness for that!”

Angela said: “At the reception at Longshaw Working Men’s Club, when the manager heard what had happened, he gave us a big bottle of champagne on the house.”

The family said they paid Legacy Limousines a £50 deposit and will not be paying the remainder of the £290 fee.

Mrs Wicknall, who has a record on her mobile phone showing she called the company at 12.45pm, said: “What we really want is an apology.

"They say their driver blames it on us, but we were ready and waiting, calling the office demanding to know where he was.

“The company say we were abusive, but being very upset and in tears is not abusive.

"They also said that we refused another car, but it’s only that it was so late.”

Owner of Legacy Limousines, Nasir Zubair, said: “The car arrived only ten minutes late and the remainder of the delay was due to a problem with the bride’s dress needing to be altered.

“The driver was outside waiting for her. The car did suffer a puncture. That is unfortunate but is something that sometimes happens.

“We had a replacement which would have been with them within ten minutes, but the customer became verbally abusive.”

“Now they are saying they were locked in the car. I don’t believe it.”

He added that the car was not dirty.

When asked about the Hummer limousine originally booked by the couple, he replied: “The customer was given a number of alternatives and they chose another 16 seater vehicle.”