"THE car was going like something in a PlayStation game."

Those were the words of a boy who got out of a joyrider's car just minutes before it crashed into a van, killing two of his friends and the van driver.

Cashel Ogden, 16, from Rawcliffe, is the second of two boys to tell how they left Joel Corner's car prior to the accident in Stockton Lane last April.

Barrie Stoves, also 16, from the Walmgate area, spoke out in Thursday's Press about his experiences, saying he was lucky to be alive.

The pair are both supporting The Press's Live Now, Drive Later campaign, aimed at preventing further such tragedies in future.

They will both take part in a video which the paper plans to produce and show to teenagers at schools across the York area.

Joel, his 15-year-old friend and front seat passenger Daniel Wright, and van driver Peter Alexander all died in the crash.

Cashel, of Barton Close but formerly of Constantine Avenue, Tang Hall, stressed that Joel had been a good friend, who had acted out of character that fateful day.

"He was a quality lad," he said.

Cashel said he had readily agreed to go in the car - an Audi which Joel had taken from his father without permission - but soon realised that Joel could not drive properly.

"It was scary, frightening," he said.

"The car was going like something in a PlayStation game. It was appalling.

"If I hadn't got out, I would probably have died."

However, Cashel admitted that he had considered not getting out before eventually deciding to climb out with Barrie.

"I thought about staying in," he said.

The Press campaign has already won the backing of key figures, including Joel's father, Lee, and Peter's son, Stuart, who say that if it prevents one youngster taking one car and killing or injuring himself and others, it will have been worth it.

York Coroner Donald Coverdale, who held an inquest into the triple fatal accident recently, has given the campaign his whole-hearted support, as have York MP Hugh Bayley and Selby MP John Grogan.