A COUPLE who were involved in a car crash said the disastrous situation ended up being a positive experience after members of the public came forward to help.

Simon Guest, 78 and his wife Joan, 73 from Station Road in Epping were rushing to get to a family funeral in Darlington when their car was hit by a 91-year-old driver on the high street.

It was written off and the couple feared they would not make it to the funeral in time.

But thanks to the help of strangers, they managed to sort the situation out quickly and carry on with their journey by train.

Mr Guest said: "This guy came from the other direction, and I think he was trying to overtake someone and he swerved out and I expect his foot slipped onto the accelerator because he sped up when he hit us, and he really did hit us. I saw it coming but my wife was very shaken."

Immediately, a member of staff from Natwest bank came out to help, offering them chairs to sit on while they waited for their car to be towed away.

Mr Guest said: "What was wonderful were the people who came rushing to help. We were so impressed.

"There was a girl who told us she was a carer and she stayed with us the whole time. Two ladies gave us their names as witnesses. But the biggest surprise of all was councillor Bob Church who got out his digital camera and took pictures for us to use for insurance purposes.

"You don't expect people to help like that, and it would have been so easy to be really angry with the driver who hit us, but instead we felt overwhelmed by the kindness of these people."

And in a twist of fate, Mr and Mrs Guest got in touch with the same car dealer who sold them their Hyundai Accent ten years ago, who found them an identical car with almost the exact same mileage on the clock.

Mr Guest said: "It sounded too good to be true."