A DAD has revealed the terror he felt after he was left trapped in the mangled remains of his van for two hours, following a horror smash.
Michael Radford, 39, “woke up crushed” following a crash on the M56 near junction 10 in April where his vehicle was sandwiched between two heavy goods vehicles.
The dad-of-three said firefighters “thought he was dead” following the smash as he queued in standstill traffic after he missed his exit on his way home.
He was eventually rescued from the wreckage before being airlifted to hospital.
Mr Radford suffered a fractured spine, a number of broken ribs as well as an injury to his eye.
The water mains engineer told the Manchester Evening News: "I don't remember much about the initial impact, I completely blacked out.
“Then, I regained consciousness and I woke up crushed. I couldn't see what was going on and I was out of it.
"It took the fire brigade around two hours to cut me out and I was airlifted to hospital. I had become wedged against my steering wheel and the front of the van was completely crushed to the size of a Ford KA. I was stuck.
"When the fire crews turned up, they told me they had thought I was dead with how badly damaged my van was.
“Even I look back at pictures now and ask myself how I am still alive."
Since the crash on April 11, Michael has been off work and he admitted he was scared at the thought of getting behind the wheel again after the “traumatic” incident.
Emergency services were called to the scene on the eastbound carriage of the motorway at around 5.30pm and after he was cut from the wreckage he was taken to Aintree Hospital.
Mr Radford, who is originally from St Helens, near Liverpool, said he would never forget the terrifying hours he spent trapped in his van and prayed he would make it out alive and fire crews battled to cut him free.
He said: "I am still recovering now. It has been a nightmare. I am having a lot of physiotherapy and still go to see spinal specialist. It was traumatic.”
As he is still haunted by events, Mr Radford said he had only been a passenger in a car since the horror smash and said he didn’t know how he was going to feel when he had to go back to work and drive on a motorway again.
He added that if he hadn’t missed his turning he wouldn’t have been involved but added “it could have been someone else”.
Cheshire Police said that a 39-year-old man from Bury had been arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Enquiries are still ongoing and the man has been released under investigation.
A spokesperson for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service said at the time that five fire engines from Winsford, Penketh, Warrington, Runcorn and Lymm attended along with the Major Rescue Unit from Winsford.
A statement said: "Firefighters were called to a road traffic collision on the M56 involving two heavy goods vehicles and one van.
"The crews removed one person who was trapped in one of the vehicles and handed them to the care of paramedics.
“Lane one and two were closed while the incident was being dealt with and an Air Ambulance doctor also attended to deal with the casualty."
