A DRIVER is appealing for witnesses after a crash that left six people needing hospital treatment.

Gareth Davies, aged 31, says he is lucky to be alive after escaping with only minor injuries when the Vauxhall Meriva he was driving was wrecked in the crash.

Mr Davies says he was pulling out of Raglan Street into Halliwell Road when an Audi crashed into the side of his car just before midnight on Saturday.

The dad-of-one said: “I remember pulling out and seeing this car coming towards me.

“The impact pushed my car about 20 feet down the road and my seat was snapped backwards.

"I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. If it hadn’t been for the in-car protection, I would have been dead.”

It took firefighters 90 minutes to free Mr Davies from the wrecked vehicle, which had been thrown towards Eskrick Street by the impact.

Three men and two women in the Audi, aged between 17 and 21, were taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital with minor injuries.

Mr Davies, of St Augustine Street, in Halliwell, was on his way to pick up his wife and three-year-old daughter from a wedding when the crash happened.

The father-of-one, who has fibromyalgia, said: “I can’t bear to think what could have happened if my little girl had been sitting behind me.

“My seat was thrown into the back of the car. If it hadn’t been for the air bag, my head would have gone through the windscreen.

“I would like witnesses to come forward and tell the police what they saw.

“I also want to thank the man who stayed with me until the ambulance came. He kept talking to me and kept me calm.

“I don’t who he was but I just want to thank him.”

A police spokesman said: “The fire service were called to extract one of the drivers by taking the roof off his vehicle.

“He and the other driver were taken to Salford Royal Hospital.

“The road was closed for a period and reopened at 2am.”

Anyone with information can call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, on 0800 555111.