Good Samaritan's car destroyed after pair given shelter Published duration 8 January 2013

Firefighters cut the roof off a woman's undamaged car to rescue two people she gave shelter to following an accident.

Janice Dunlop narrowly avoided the accident herself when a lorry overturned on the A27 near Arundel, colliding with two cars.

She allowed the pair to wait in her car but firefighters cut the roof off after the two complained of neck pains and paramedics needed to move them.

Mrs Dunlop said she is still unsure whether insurers will replace the car.

She said the accident on Sunday was "complete carnage".

"Seeing a lorry come towards me as I was driving up the hill - I just had to get my car out of the way and hope for the best," she said.

"If I was a second earlier I would have been one of those cars."

She said the pair got out of their car and "found their way" into her Vauxhall Vectra to take refuge.

It was then that they developed neck pain and the emergency services decided to cut the roof off.

image caption Janice Dunlop said she had to turn away as fire fighters cut the roof off the family car

"[The emergency services] took a long time trying to see whether they could get the couple out any other way, but that's the decision they came to," she said.

"I do think with adrenaline you can walk through a broken leg, so who knows what situation they [the pair] were in.

"When the top came off I couldn't look, I hid my eyes. It was a very loved car in our family, it was heartbreaking."

A spokesman for the South East Coast Ambulance Service said: "While the pair were sheltering in the car they developed neck pain.

"Paramedics explored every opportunity to get them out of the vehicle. However, in the end they had to get the fire service to cut the roof off and take them out on back boards.

"We can only apologise to Mrs Dunlop for the inconvenience of that."