AN Andover mother has thanked striking firefighters who abandoned their picket line to rescue her two daughters from a car crash on the A303 on Monday morning.

Her daughters - a 44-year-old police officer and a 47-year-old nurse - were driving towards Andover to pick up their mother on the way to a funeral in Stoke Poges.

But their Corsa was involved in an accident on the westbound carriageway of the A303 at Bullington Cross and both were trapped in the car.

Striking firefighters from Andover attended the scene and cut both from the car.

The younger daughter was taken to the intensive care unit at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester with serious chest injuries. Doctors have since discovered she has a broken bone in her back.

The older sister suffered a fractured sternum but has been released from hospital.

Their mother said: "I am so grateful to the firefighters. If it hadn't been for them I would have lost both my daughters."