THE parents of the teenage girl caught up in this horrific crash said today it was a miracle she was still alive.

Michelle Wheatley, 18, was put on a life-support machine in intensive care after the accident last week.

She suffered a fractured skull, bruised lungs, and broken cheek bones and eye sockets in a crash which left her car hanging over a 40ft deep quarry.

She had to be cut out of the car by firefighters wearing harnesses tied to the fire engine.

Michelle's father, Malcolm, said: "In hospital on the night of the accident my wife and I looked each other in the eye, and we knew what we were both thinking - that we'd lost her for sure."

But today Michelle is off life-support and "on the mend" in Leeds General Hospital's high dependency unit.

Mr Wheatley said: "She has been so lucky.

"She must have used up all of her nine lives in one go."

The Evening Press reported last Friday that Michelle was on her way to meet her boyfriend - 18-year-old York City footballer Byron Webster - in Sherburn-in-Elmet when her car ploughed into a tree on the A162 at Brotherton, near Selby.

Mr Wheatley said: "Had that tree not been there, her car would have fallen 40ft, and she would have been gone.

"When my wife, Elizabeth, and I got to hospital they sat us down in an interview room, so we knew straight away something was terribly wrong.

"They told us there were no signs of life in her eyes and that she was on a life-support machine.

"We feared the worst. Even the doctors and nurses did. We didn't sleep at all that night but by some miracle she made it through.

"She's on the mend now. She can speak, and drink for herself.

"The doctors say the physical injuries should heal in the next few weeks, and then her recovery will be all down to her."

Michelle lives with her parents and 16-year-old sister Natalie in Byram.

An A-level student at Sherburn High School, she has been offered a place at the University of York to read criminology, and has plans to join the police force.

Mr Wheatley, who runs his own live entertainment company, said: "She is an absolute model kid.

"As well as doing all her schoolwork, she is a barmaid at the White Horse, in Church Fenton, and a chambermaid at Monk Fryston Hall at weekends.

"She has also notched up 1,000 hours of voluntary work for the Millennium Volunteers in York, helping old people and disadvantaged youngsters.

"She has been through so much, but she's a real fighter and is still there."

Updated: 09:35 Saturday, April 09, 2005