The terrified boy, who had a miraculous escape when the car he was travelling in "flew" into the lounge of an upstairs flat, was crying and asking for his dad who was still trapped in the vehicle.

Without hesitation, Daniel Jackson (21), a sales executive at the Sycamore BMW garage in Papyrus Road, Werrington, Peterborough, ran to the scene with his colleague Trevor Smith (39).

The full story: Werrington crash
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They had watched in horror as they saw a black Volvo "fly" over a
roundabout, bounce on the ground, and then smash backwards into the first floor Danish Court flat which backs onto the Werrington parkway.

Mr Jackson said: "I saw the car when it was about 20 ft in the air. It soared over the roundabout and came down and bounced.

"It was unbelievable."

He shouted to Mr Smith to come with him and they raced to the scene where the mangled bonnet of the vehicle was protruding from the brickwork where the window of the flat had been.

The duo were looking aghast at the wreckage when amazingly they saw a young boy appear through the roof of the car where the twisted metal had been rolled back, and start climbing out.

Mr Smith said: "We couldn't believe it. It was like a miracle."
Someone else was inside the building on the staircase talking to the emergency services on his mobile phone, but Mr Jackson ran past him to reach the youngster who was bewildered to find himself inside someone's lounge where the car had come to rest.

Mr Jackson said : "He had got out of the wreckage and I just picked him up and carried him down the stairs. He kept asking for his dad. He was all like jelly."

Mr Jackson added: "The whole place stank of petrol and there was fluid dripping off the car, and a lot of steam too, but we didn't even think that it might blow up."

Once outside he sat the shaken boy down on the kerb and someone wrapped him in a blanket while they waited for the ambulance.

The driver of the car, John Gordon (31), of Long Pasture, Werrington, who is believed to be the child's father, died in a specialist unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, hours after the accident on Saturday morning.

Mr Smith said he wanted to get the driver out, but he was trapped in the car and had to be freed by firefighters.

He said: "It is so sad that he died. This is such an awful thing to happen to a family, especially just before Christmas.
"We just hope the little boy is OK."

By luck the tenant of the flat, Laura Stevens (19), had just left her lounge to take washing out of her machine in the kitchen. Seconds later the car came through her wall like a missile. She is currently staying at her mother's home in Peterborough.

People in Werrington have been shocked by what happened and resident Sarah McHorgh (39), of Ploverly, said: "It's awful. You just don't expect something like that to happen."

Geoff Hamilton, of Eastfield Road, was on a bus travelling to Werrington when he heard about the accident. He said: "Everyone on the bus was talking about it. I initially heard there was an accident, but I didn't realise what had happened. I have never known anything like it."