A DRIVER who was first on the scene of a horror crash in which a four-year-old boy was seriously hurt, has told how he comforted the youngster First aider MarkWoodward, aged 31, was on the way to the gym at Bolton Arena when he saw the three car pile-up in a crash in De Havilland Way in Horwich, close to its junction with Lostock Lane on Monday at 6.30pm.

The boy was trapped and North West Ambulance Service paramedics feared he had suffered a serious head and neck injury.

Mr Woodward said: “Me and his mum were inside the Peugeot 206 car before police arrived.

“I was just trying to keep him still and keep him awake. He was trapped in the car and me and three or four other blokes were trying to pull the door off.

“The boy had his left arm and left leg stuck in the car where it had been hit. He managed to get his leg and arm out and they seemed all right. There was blood coming from his ear. He was shouting ‘mummy’ and when paramedics got him on the stretcher he was stretching out and holding his mum’s hand.”

The boy, believed to be called Cameron, had been sitting on a foam booster seat on the near side.

His mother, thought to be called Kirsty, and from Bolton, suffered a cut to the left side of her face.

A Land Rover Discovery and a Vauxhall Insignia were also involved. The drivers, both men, were not injured.

Mr Woodward, from Adlington, who works as a salesman forMercedes in Blackburn Road, said: “It was horrible. I have dealt with car crashes before but never when a child has been involved.”

Mr Woodward was one of a number of people who stopped to help. Police confirmed the boy is in a critical condition with a fractured skull. He is now at Manchester Children’s Hospital.

Inquiries are ongoing into the cause of the crash. Witnesses should call the serious collision investigation unit on 0161 856 4742.