A couple left “covered in blood” in a terrifying crash say they were abandoned by two mystery drivers.

James Lindemann and wife Rachael were being given a lift home from his 50th birthday party in Manchester when a car “driven by two young people” slammed into the car they were in in the early hours of February 2. James claims the other car, a black Vauxhall, was being driven at high speed.

The collision left James with blood “all over his face” while Rachael suffered a broken sternum – the bone protecting vital chest organs. But despite the couple’s horrific injuries, the two people in the Vauxhall fled the scene on foot. “Suddenly – bang – a car hit us. If it had been half a second earlier, I wouldn’t be having this conversation now, the car would have gone flush into us,” dad of three James told the Manchester Evening News. “I’ve got blood all over my face, I’m thinking it’s been torn off, all the airbags have gone off.”

Emergency services rushed to the scene, but by the time they’d arrived the two in the Vauxhall were nowhere to be seen. James said both the driver and passenger appeared to be ‘under 20’. “All I could shout is ‘what have you done to us?’ All I could see was blood pouring out of my face,” said James. “My wife started complaining of breathing difficulties. We were both taken to hospital.

“I was told it was just a nick on my nose, no break. But we found out my wife’s chest has been fractured. The force of the seatbelt and the impact has meant her chest plate has become crushed, and her sternum has been dislodged. She was kept in hospital for 36 hours, thankfully there’s been no organ damage behind the sternum. She can’t lie down because she’s got bruising terribly on her legs.”

James has spoken out in a plea with anyone on the roads that night who may have information to come forward. The couple had been in the car with a friend on Simonsway in Wythenshawe when the crash occurred just before 2.30am.

Police told James meanwhile that the Vauxhall had been reported stolen. Greater Manchester Police confirmed that the force received a report of a fail to stop road traffic collision, and that two people were taken to hospital. GMP said enquiries about the incident are ongoing – but the two other people in the other car are not believed to have been found, said James.

“We were seconds from disaster. Maybe even a second,” said James. “Does anybody know anything?” James, a recruitment company director, also says he wants to take it to court – in the hope that ‘something good will come out of it’. A dad to three children ages 22, 12 and nine himself, he’s urging parents to know where their youngsters are, fearing that the two people in the Vauxhall could easily have been hurt too.

“Parents need to be telling their kids that’s what’s going to happen to them,” said James. “If they’d not killed us, they might have killed themselves. They were just young kids who couldn’t drive the car. They were lucky none of us were killed. It’s a serious message for the streets of Manchester. Young people need to know actions have consequences.

“I want to get these kids, ideally in court – because then they’ll never do it again and something good will come out of it. This can’t happen. I want to make sure parents are telling their kids that nothing good will come out of this kind of behaviour.”

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