Littlehampton friends risked their lives to rescue driver

Max Quinnell was watching television with his partner Harley Churchill at their home in Church Street when they heard an almighty bang as the car slammed into the roundabout at the junction with St Flora’s Road, last Tuesday night (December 11).

Max, 25 immediately rushed outside and was met by a sight of pure devastation.

“The car was on its roof. There was brick, glass and fuel everywhere. I could see that it was already on fire, so I just rushed straight over to it. That’s when I heard a man inside it.”

Without any regard for their own safety, Max and his friend Gary Styles, also of Church Street, clambered into the driver’s side of the wrecked Toyota.

“I couldn’t see anything in there to begin with. The smoke was very thick. We quickly found him but he was barely conscious at the time. He was upside-down in his seat, with the belt still around him.”

A crowd of around 20 people had stopped in the street to watch Max and Gary’s heroic efforts, some screaming that the car could explode.

“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about that – it’s not that I wasn’t scared, I just didn’t have time for that. You see it in the films all the time, people pull others from burning wreckage, action stars and heroes and all that.

“But when it actually comes to it, you’re never sure what you’ll do. I just knew that I had to do something. So I did.”

For Max and Gary’s full story, see this week’s Gazette (Thursday, December 20).