YOBS left frail Denise Trickett just feet from death – when they rammed a BLAZING stolen car into her garden.
The 68-year-old was left trapped in her home as the J-reg Nissan Micra exploded in a fireball... less than a yard from her own car – right outside her window and brimful of fuel.
Ms Trickett was asleep when joyriders gatecrashed her bungalow, at L
awrence Drive, Swinton, in the middle of the night.
A brave neighbour dodged the flames to wake the wheelchair-bound pensioner... who then found she had no way to escape, except past the burning car.
She told the Times: "I looked through the window and there was a huge orange glow. I couldn't believe it, the flames were so high.
"They were shooting up well above the car.
"I was really worried because my son had only recently filled up my Vauxhall Zafira mobility car and the other car was right up against it.
"If that had gone up, then God knows what would have happened to me.
"The only way out is through the front gate. I was trapped – and really shaken by it all."
A quick-thinking neighbour called 999 after spotting the burning car at around 2.30am last Friday morning.
Firefighters raced to the scene and managed to extinguish the fire in half-an-hour before it reached her car... but not before flames burned off Denise's gate and turned her gate-post to cinders.
Luckily, Denise was unharmed.
Daughter-in-law Heather Trickett said: "We don't know who the neighbour was - they just woke up Denise and said they had called 999 – but we are grateful to them.
"We understand it was a stolen car – they must have gone at some speed because they came right through the gate.
"It was wooden and quite sturdy, but the fire destroyed most of it. I'm just glad it didn't spread to the other car and the house."
A fire service spokesman said they believe the fire was started deliberately.
