A COUPLE were forced to cancel their holiday after a driver smashed into their car while they were on the way to the airport.

The husband and wife, who have asked to remain anonymous, were in Victoria Avenue, Rayleigh, being driven to Stansted by the woman’s father, at 3am on Saturday when disaster struck.

The 40-year-old man, from Hockley, recalled: “My father-in-law was driving us to the airport and suddenly we noticed a car speeding towards us and coming into our lane.

“It was coming at us head on and my father-in-law had to pull up onto the footpath - they must have been on something because they weren’t slowing down.

“As they got closer, the car veered completely into our lane and at that point we knew it was going to hit us.

“We just had to brace ourselves and pray we wouldn’t end up seriously injured.”

The black Renault hit the left side of the victims’ car and caused severe damage.

The driver of the victims’ car, a man in his 60s, was left with severe bruising to his legs and a serious gash to his face which was “pouring with blood”.

The woman was left with serious bruising to her chest and is still struggling to breathe comfortably.

The man added: “Within minutes, the people in the Clio had run off while I was trying to get my father-in-law out of the car.

“The police arrived within minutes which was great, but then it all went a bit down hill from there. They said they were going to get a helicopter up but then that was scrapped and then they got sniffer dogs who couldn’t find anything.

“We haven’t really heard from them since.

“We also had to take ourselves to hospital because they said the ambulance would be six hours.”

The couple were forced to cancel their £1,100 holiday to Fuerteventura after they missed their flight and decided the woman was not fit to travel.

The man added: “My father-in-law has been left very shaken up and even though he drives for a living he’s not sure if he wants to get back in a car.”

A police spokesman said: “We were called to reports of a two car crash.

“The occupants of one of the vehicles, a black Renault Clio, made off from the scene.

“If you have information call us on 101 quoting incident 146 of March 23 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”