THE FRIEND of four York men injured in a car crash has spoken of how he helped drag his friends to safety.

Philip Green and Adam Seetenby drove round a roundabout to see the white Renault Clio their friends were travelling in lying on its driver's side door with the wheels spinning.

Nine friends were travelling in three cars from Strensall towards the Warner Brothers Cinema, Clifton Moor, when one car collided with a Mercedes on the Haxby roundabout on the A1237 outer ring road at 6.30pm on Sunday.

The pair parked up and with the help of another driver, smashed a window to pull their friends out, one of whom was unconscious.

Philip, 19, of Strensall, said: "I saw the car lying on its side with smoke pouring out of it and my first reaction was that it was going to set on fire.

"We jumped out of our car, put our hazards on and ran over to the car to put the windows through.

"Another driver stopped and pulled someone out and put them in the recovery position."

"I was very shaken up. You see that sort of thing on programmes like Casualty but you never expect it to happen to you. I'm very grateful. Not many people get a second chance. They were very lucky."

All four passengers were treated at York Hospital.

Updated: 14:37 Wednesday, June 25, 2003