A TEENAGER has told how she escaped with cuts and bruises after her car was dragged 170 metres down the motorway underneath an articulated lorry.

Faye Goodwin and her friend Natalie Bones, both 19, were told by emergency workers they were lucky to be alive.

The high-speed collision took place on the A1(M) near Wetherby, North Yorkshire, at about 2pm on Sunday.

Miss Goodwin, from Eston, Middlesbrough, was driving the Ford Focus in the fast lane when a car pulled out in front of her.

She said: "I steered towards the central reservation to avoid the other car.

"But I lost control when I tried to brake on the grass. I then swerved across three lanes and under the lorry.

"Natalie jumped on to me, otherwise she would have been crushed.

"I can remember being dragged along. It all seemed to happen so fast - we were just screaming.

"The lorry stopped and we were both trapped for about 45 minutes until firefighters came.The police and paramedics said we should be dead."

The pair were cut free by fire crews and taken to Harrogate District Hospital but later released.

Miss Goodwin is an Army lance corporal based at Ashchurch, in Gloucestershire. Miss Bones, from Dagenham, Essex, is a signaller. They were travelling back to base when the accident happened.

Miss Goodwin said: "Apparently, if we hadn't hit the lorry, we could have gone into a river.

"We were very lucky. Although I'm worried as we've got to drive back down the same road tomorrow."

A police spokesman said: "Officers expected the worst, but found the occupants, two young women, suffering nothing worse the whiplash, cuts and bruises.

"The two ladies have been very fortunate indeed."

Police want to speak to the driver of the vehicle the teenagers swerved to avoid.

The dark-coloured people carrier, possibly a Peugeot, stopped briefly after the accident, but then drove away.

A spokesman for Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service said: "Two ambulances and an air ambulance was sent, although the helicopter was stood down when it was realised the injuries were not serious."

The driver of the people carrier and other witnesses are asked to call North Yorkshire police on (01423) 539326.