Runaway car man to face court A MOTORIST faces court action after a runaway car drama on a busy Bolton road.

The automatic Rover 800 weaved along Chorley New Road in Heaton for about 400 yards as astonished motorists watched it "drive" without anyone at the wheel.

It only stopped after it veered off the road and crashed into a wall near the junction with Victoria Road yesterday lunchtime.

Today traffic police said drivers and pedestrians in the area had had a lucky escape.

Sgt Barry Fairclough said: "It was very lucky that no one was injured and it did not hit any other vehicles.

"The effects could have been devastating."

The car rolled along after the driver went to deliver a parcel just before 11.30am.

The driver, a man in his mid 50s from Liverpool, was reported for motoring offences and will appear before Bolton magistrates. Teenagers badly hurt as smash closes road TWO teenagers suffered serious injuries in a head-on crash on a remote road on the outskirts of Bolton early today.

Police are investigating why the Ford Fiesta and Nissan Micra collided with each other on Watling Street, Affetside, at 1.20am.

Fiesta driver Stuart Clarke, 19, of Chesham Road, Bury, had to be cut free from the wreckage of his car by firefighters.

After treatment at the Royal Bolton Hospital he was taken to Withington Hospital for specialist treatment to serious cuts to his arms.

Micra driver Adam Czutkowna, 19, of High Bank, Bromley Cross, suffered a fractured hip and thigh bone and cuts to his head.

His car went into a spin following the collision and ended up lodged against a wall. Firefighters had to drag the car away from the wall before he could be pulled free from the wreckage on a special stretcher, which protects potential neck and back injuries. He was detained at the Royal Bolton Hospital and is in a "satisfactory" condition.

Zak Mansell, 19, of Ribble Drive, Bury, was a passenger in the Fiesta. He suffered bruising and shock but was released after treatment.

Bruising

Micra passenger Keith Whatmough, 18, of Marton Avenue, Bolton, suffered bruising and shock.

The road, half-a-mile from the junction with Tottington Road, was shut for more than four hours while the wreckage was cleared and investigators examined the scene. Police are appealing for witnesses to contact them on 0161 872 5050. Two accidents hit rush hour traffic MOTORISTS in Bolton faced commuter chaos this morning after two accidents close together caused long traffic tailbacks.

The first accident happened at the junction of Moor Lane and Trinity Street at 7.36am. A Peugeot and a Ford Fiesta collided and blocked the road for about half an hour. No one was injured.

About five minutes later a collision occured between a car and a woman pedestrian on St Helen's Road near the Oddfellows Arms.

She was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital for treatment. The woman, in her early 30s, is understood to have sustained fractures. Traffic was diverted along Deane Church Lane and Morris Green Lane.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.