A MOTORIST had a lucky escape after getting out of his car just seconds before another car smashed into it on the M62 motorway.

The male driver had a flat tyre and pulled up onto the hard shoulder of the M62 to phone for help, but seconds later the driver of a second car collided into the vehicle, spinning it around 180 degrees.

The impact smash forced the parked car into a ditch alongside the motorway and trapped the second male driver in his car.

All the emergency services attended the scene and helped to release the trapped motorist.

Crew manager Mark Warrender of Elland Fire Station was at the incident and said: “It was a good job the first driver wasn’t in the car at the time. He had just walked away from his car and turned to see his car smashed into the back.

“The impact had turned the car 180 degrees. It was facing east down the west-bound side of the carriageway; the car had spun around.”

The force of the impact had pushed the silver Audi A6 and the black Vauxhall Vectra into the drainage ducts alongside the motorway.

Fire crews from Elland, Huddersfield and Halifax stations were called out to the incident at 10.08am yesterday, Tuesday, on the M62 between junction 22 and 23. They were at the scene for up to 30 minutes.

Firefighters managed to release the trapped motorist who was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and treated for minor head injuries. The other passenger who escaped the smash was unhurt.

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said the motorist was ‘walking wounded’ after the incident, suffering minor head injuries.

The inside lane of the motorway was closed off for almost two hours as the emergency services worked at the scene, but it reopened shortly before midday.

Police, fire, ambulance and the Highways Agency were all in attendance at the scene of the crash.