THE quick thinking of a 14-year-old boy led to the dramatic rescue of a woman who had flipped her car into a pond.

Jack Hair and his stepdad Robert Ankers had been driving back from football practice along the A483 when their friend, Alwyn Price, 34, of Chester, noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Mr Ankers, of Great Sutton, said: 'Alwyn told me he thought he had seen a flash which looked like car lights flipping over themselves in the opposite lane.

'We thought he was being daft but decided to take a look to make sure.

'When we got to the slip road there was no sign of a car but we got out to have a look and that's when I heard a faint beep and a girl screaming.

'I looked down the embankment and saw a car upside down.

'Jack and I rushed to where the car was. I tried to open the door but it was sunk into the mud, I was trying to calm her down.

'As Alwyn was calling 999 Jack ran back to my car where he had seen crowbars when he put the football gear in the boot.

'Jack threw me a crowbar and together, with me in the water and him on top of the car, we prised the door open.

'After a lot of physical effort we managed to get it open and pulled her out before all of the water rushed into the car.'

Mr Ankers, a director for Betts Associates consulting engineers, said it was lucky that Jack had thought to get crowbars as the door wouldn't budge.

The pair remain modest about the rescue but it is unlikely that anyone else would have stopped to help as her car was not visible from the road.

The woman, believed to be 18, came off the junction on Rough Hill on May 29. After being pulled from the sinking car she appeared to have suffered only a cut finger but was taken to hospital for a check-up.

Jack's proud grandmother and Mr Ankers' colleagues rang The Chronicle following an appeal in our sister paper The Midweek Chronicle.

* If you are the young woman rescued and want to say thank you, call the newsdesk on 01244 606425.

samantha.parker@cheshirenews.co.uk