FIREFIGHTERS lifted a 78-year-old woman driver out of her crashed car on a stretcher after she lost control, mounted a steep grass embankment and ploughed into a road sign, causing the car to flip over.

The pensioner had filled up her blue Honda Jazz at the Tesco petrol station in Mansell Way, Horwich, just after noon yesterday. Police believe that as she was driving out of the forecourt, she failed to negotiate the bend and drove across the grass area.

The woman, from the Wigan area, was unable to control the car, which she had recently bought. She drove across the grass area, hit the road sign and the car turned over on to its side.

The sign then fell on top of the car.

The woman and an elderly female passenger had to be freed by firefighters.

After they were carried out on stretchers, paramedics checked them before they were taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital for treatment for minor injuries and shock.

Firefighters pushed the car back down the embankment and onto the forecourt. It was badly damaged at the front and the side.

One lane of Mansell Way was closed for nearly an hour while police and firefighters removed the damaged sign.