A COUNCILLOR has praised a 'good Samaritan' for returning her phone after she drove off with it in top of her car.

Maureen Flitcroft, a ward councillor for Farnworth, was taking her grandchildren home yesterday evening after picking them up from school.

She left in a "slight rush" as one of them was needing to go to youth club, and so Cllr Flitcroft set off with her Samsung s20 phone on top of the car.

Miraculously, the phone remained on top of the car for much of the journey from Longcauseway to Corn Mill Drive.

But as she was coming into the estate, unbeknownst to her, the phone slid off onto the road.

Moments later, as she was pulling into the street, a silver Ford pulled up alongside her.

A couple had spotted the phone sliding off, grabbed it, and returned it to her, before another motorist could accidentally run it over.

Cllr Flitcroft said: "I was only driving for a few minutes but I must have turned around a dozen corners - so it's very lucky that it didn't fall off onto the main road.

"I hope this biggest of thank you's reaches the good Samaritans who returned my phone.

"I have in the past driven off with various things on the roof of my car, but never my phone.

"Their efforts are greatly appreciated. There are a lot of photos and memories on that phone which mean a lot to me."