'I could see it on fire, smoke everywhere. I thought he was dead'

Pair lucky to be alive after car crash in Spain

- Thomas Cooper

TWO men from Stoke-on-Trent are 'lucky to be alive' after their car turned into a fireball on a holiday in the sun-soaked hills of Spain.

Paul Bate, from Phat Lads Competitions, and colleague Wayne Worthington were driving through the Pyrenees Mountains on their way to Andorra when disaster struck.

The pair were 'cut off' by an oncoming driver - sending their car hurtling through the air at around 11.30am on Sunday.

Following closely behind were a convoy of other employees, including Paul's son and Phat Lads founder Reece Thornton-Bate.

Reece, 32, says his colleagues from other vehicles jumped into action to pull the pair out of the car as it started to smoke. But he feared the worst.

He said: "My dad was driving through the winding mountain roads in his Audi RS 6 when another car cut across and pushed him over onto the left-hand side of the road.

"That forced him into a water-drainage gulley which flipped the car over onto its roof.

"The car slid around 150 yards down the road on its roof.