An early morning crash left an elderly couple stranded in the fast lane of the M6 motorway, facing oncoming traffic.

The terrified man and woman could do nothing but sit helplessly in their car, watching as traffic sped towards them.

Emergency services were called to the incident near Carlisle at about 5am, after the couple's vehicle is believed to have hit an icy patch and spun out of control.

It came to a stop in the third lane of the busy motorway and the pair then dialled 999.

Firefighters from both Carlisle east and west fire stations responded.

Crew manager John Murphy said: "We removed the occupants and got them to safety.

"This was quite a frightening ordeal for them as they were facing the oncoming traffic."

A fire spokesman added that it had been nerve-wracking for the firefighters themselves too.

"The appliance was trying to slow the traffic down on the approach to the stranded vehicle," he explained, "but traffic was speeding passed on both the left and right.

"We were concerned we were going to be called to a second crash, because someone was going to hit the first car."