A TEENAGER was inches away from being hit by an out-of-control stolen car.

Gracie Line, 14, was walking her chocolate labrador dog Frankie in Manchester Drive, Leigh, yesterday at 6pm when she had the lucky escape.

The car, which is believed to have been stolen, careered onto the pavement and hit a lamp post inches away from her.

It was a blue Ford Focus with a 2010 number plate It carried on about a mile up the road, into Randolph Close, Leigh, where the driver jumped out and ran off.

The abandoned vehicle then smashed into the back garden of a property in the road.

Darren Line, 45, Gracie’s dad, of Eastwood Road, Leigh, said: “My daughter was standing between a lamp post and a bollard. They have come right across both lanes, gone up the pavement, glanced the dog and missed my daughter, and hit the bollard. She was really lucky.

“She is very shaken and so is the dog. Luckily she is fine, which is a miracle.”

“You can’t believe they are both in one piece. It really is amazing.”

Mr Line said there was debris across the road where the car hit the lamp post.

He continued: “They have driven straight over one of the big metal bollards. Then they have done a runner. The car itself looks like it’s been opened with a can opener.”

Police confirmed there had been an incident in the Manchester Drive area of Leigh. Anyone with information can call Leigh police station on 0300 3334444.