A GP has told of the ‘chilling’ moment he and his wife narrowly avoided a head-on crash with a car driving the wrong way down the A666.

Dr Stuart Shaw and his wife Debbie were returning to their home in Bromley Cross last Wednesday at about 10.30pm after a night out in Manchester.

The pair were on the A666, near Kearsley, when they were nearly hit by a red Ford travelling southbound on the northbound carriageway.

The father-of-two said it was only thanks to Mrs Shaw’s quick reactions behind the wheel that they avoided ‘a certain fatal crash’.

He said: “The offending vehicle came at very high speed on the wrong carriageway, if my wife hadn’t taken evasive action it would’ve been unsurvivable. We were doing 50mph and he was doing in excess of 80 or 90mph, it was quite a chilling incident.”

Dr Shaw, who is a partner at Harwood Medical Centre, added: “We were horrified really, but it was all over in an instant. It would’ve been a fatal accident, but my wife’s quick reactions hadn’t save the day.”

Describing the incident he said: “The car in front of us moved over sharpish and my wife was met with this oncoming vehicle and in a fraction of a second he had gone past.

“The people who do things like that are animals, with a total disregard for human life and need to feel the full force of the law.”

The vehicle was abandoned at a layby near junction two of the M61 at Kearsley for the A580 and M60.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.