TWO mums told today how they felt lucky they and their children were alive after they were involved in a four-car smash on the way home from a day out.

Friends Sharron Brown and Diane Hopwood, who both work at Sainsbury's in Foss Bank, York, were two of the drivers involved in the crash on the A64 on Monday evening.

They said they believed they and their four children only survived the accident without serious injury because they were all wearing seat belts.

Sharron, of Appletree Village, York, said they had all been out for the day to Flamingo Land, near Pickering, to mark the 13th birthday next week of Diane's son Mark.

Diane, who was driving a green Vauxhall Corsa, also took her daughter Vicki, 19.

Sharron had her children Krystal, 12, and Kurtis, seven, with her, in her white Citroen Xsara.

They were all on their way back to Diane's house in Huntington, York, to have a take-away to round off the day.

She said she had been following Diane towards York down the A64 when Diane's car was in collision with a BMW at about 7.20pm, near to Barton Hill, Malton.

Her car then hit Diane's and then hit a fourth vehicle, a Flamingo Land van.

She said she had seen Diane's car spin round and hit the crash barrier and had lost consciousness for a few minutes.

"It was really horrific," she said.

"How we didn't sustain fatal injuries is a miracle. We're lucky to be here.

"I thought we were going to die.

"Her kids were screaming, my kids were screaming. The seat belts saved our lives."

She said she had suffered whiplash injuries and back pain and Krystal had bad bruising where her seat belt had been - the cars were likely to be write-offs.

Diane said: "If we hadn't had our seatbelts on definitely some of us wouldn't be here.

"It shows you that is what saves lives."

She said the extent of their escape had only hit her when she had seen the state their cars were in.

Her only injuries were whiplash injuries and back pain and her daughter had chest pain.

Updated: 11:39 Wednesday, August 21, 2002