ONE of the men who was seriously injured in the Mellor horror crash had rung his family just minutes before the accident.

Blackburn Rovers fan Christian Gillibrand told his grandfather he had been watching the team's 1-1 draw at Fulham on the big TV screens at The Woodlands Hotel, Preston New Road, and was on his way home.

But his family knew something was wrong when he failed to turn up and they then heard the sound of ambulances rushing to the accident scene.

His grandfather Derek Aspden, 72, has backed the Lancashire Telegraph's Wasted Lives campaign, which was launched earlier this month and said: "I support all of the aims which have been set out.

"An accident like this just highlights how important it is that something is done."

Christian, 20, who has lived with his grandparents in Ramsgreave Drive, Blackburn, for three years, works at Calderstones Hospital, Whalley, and is training to be carer.

He was a back seat passenger in the red Honda Civic which hit stone walls on both sides of Mellor Lane, three times before finally ploughing into a parked car.

Christian is on a ventilator in the intensive care unit of the Royal Blackburn Hospital following the crash on Saturday afternoon.

He suffered fractured ribs and he a punctured lung from the accident and is expected to be under sedation until next week.

Derek said: "He rang to say that he was on his way home.

"He had been watching the Rovers match in the pub and said he would be home in 10 minutes.

"My wife and I were at home and were heard the ambulance sirens go past our house.

"Ten minutes had gone by and the ambulances had been and gone.

"I rang one of his friends who had been with them and he said he would ring Christian for us.

"We didn't hear anything, then we heard there had been an accident in Mellor.

Christian is due to celebrate his 21st birthday next week.

Christian's grandmother, Marjorie Aspden, 71, said: "He is a lovely lad who has lots of friends.

"He is good at football and would go and play football at the JJB soccer dome.

"He has some good friends. Ashley, the lad who died, was a nice, lovely lad."

Click here for tributes to Ashley Connell.