THE mayor of Whitehaven has thanked the community for their support after he spent a week in a coma following a car crash at a notorious junction.

Chris Hayes was in an accident at the M658 junction in Liverpool on February 28, while travelling back from his granddaughter's birthday party with his family.

His Toyota CHR Hybrid was struck to the side by a Nissan Qashqai and pushed into the barrier.

Luckily, his four-year-old grandson who was sat in the back was unharmed, as was his son.

His wife, Angela had bad bruising from her seatbelt. Mr Hayes said he was ok when he first got out of the car but then passed out when he got in the ambulance.

The town mayor was taken to Aintree Hospital and placed into an induced coma for a week.

He had a broken sternum and later contracted pneumonia.

He said: "I was very lucky when you see the state of the car. It's quite frightening.

"I can't remember a great deal about the accident. What I will say is the service we got from the paramedics and the police was second to none. They were there in minutes.

"The service in Aintree Hospital was second to none. They helped me through it all. I couldn't thank them all enough. I intend to go back down and thank them all personally.

"I even got a phone call from the doctor who treated me to see if I was any better."

Mr Hayes is now recovering at home and says he is starting to build his strength back up. He is currently being treated for bowel cancer and the accident has delayed his treatment by two months, but he says he will "bounce back from it".

Mr Hayes has been 'blown away' by the support he has received from the community.

"I've had nearly 500 messages of goodwill. It's been absolutely amazing the support we've had. I can't thank people enough."