A PASSER-BY has been hailed a hero after he stopped a runaway car with three children inside from rolling into a busy road.

Window repair worker Craig Parkinson risked his life when he tried to get the children to apply the handbrake as the car rolled down Rishton Lane in Great Lever, on Wednesday evening.

But the children struggled to use the new-style brake in the automatic Mercedes, so Mr Parkinson put his own safety on the line to stop the car.

He opened the car door as the vehicle continued heading backwards downhill towards the busy roundabout at the junction of Rishton Lane and Green Lane.

As Mr Parkinson struggled to find the handbrake, he tried to hold the 1.6 tonne Mercedes C-Class saloon back with his own body weight.

The car carried on travelling down the hill towards the roundabout, but as it veered off a straight line, Mr Parkinson found himself trapped and being crushed by the car door against a lamppost.

Mr Parkinson, aged 29, from Netherfield Road, Great Lever, said: “I saw the car going backwards down the road but there were no reverse lights on so I wondered what was going on.

“I walked closer to get a better look and saw there was no driver in the car, just three small children looking extremely distressed.

“I ran over and started shouting trying to tell them to pull the handbrake but they didn’t know what to do.

“I grabbed the door and managed to open it to see if I could figure out how to stop it but it wasn't your usual handbrake and it was pushing me back with it.

“I got jammed against a signpost which luckily brought it to a stop just before it got to the roundabout.”

Local councillor Sue Howarth, who was walking home when the incident happened, said: “What Craig did was amazing, he put himself at risk to stop those three children getting seriously hurt.

“If that car had reached the roundabout there is no doubt there would have been an accident.

“It’s a busy junction and without Craig I don’t know what the outcome would have been. He is a true hero.”

Wholesale delivery driver Tabrejali Adam was turning into Rishton Lane, when he saw the car rolling towards him.

He said: “I pulled over out of the way and my first thought was to get out and help, especially with little kids in the car.

“They must have been between the age of four and nine and all I could see was them looking very distressed.

“Their mother came out of a shop and saw what had happened.

“She just thanked Craig for what he did.

“Craig is an absolute hero, if it was not for him I don’t know what would have happened.”