Children steer M5 car to safety

Mr Devey said his children were "absolutely fantastic"

Three children have been hailed as heroes for steering their father's car to safety after he suffered a seizure while driving on the M5 near Bristol.

Steve Devey, from Cullompton, Devon, was with his children, Zoe Leigh and Ben, and step-daughter Jodie Hancock, when he suffered the seizure on Monday.

Jodie, 14, and 15-year-old Zoe Leigh steered the car to safety while Ben, 12, stopped his father from choking.

Mr Devey, 44, who is making a full recovery, say they were "fantastic".

The publican was driving to the West Midlands with the children and was coming on to the M5 at Bristol when the seizure happened. Doctors do not know what caused it.

I was being really careful because I didn't want any of us to die and was concentrating on the road trying not to crash Jodie Hancock

"The kids were absolutely fantastic in that they managed to get the car off the road without causing any accidents or injury to any of us," he said.

"God knows what would have happened if I'd have been on my own - it could have been a major incident but fortunately because of the kids it all turned out alright in the end.

Jodie, who was in the back seat when it happened, said: "I went forward as fast as I could because I didn't want anything to happen.

"I was being really careful because I didn't want any of us to die and was concentrating on the road trying not to crash.

"I told Ben to hold on to Steve so nothing bad would happen to him.

"We turned in where there was a really long bit of grass and I pulled the keys out of the ignition and we slowly went into a bush."

The car suffered only a small scrape along one of its door panels as the Jaguar came to a halt but no-one was injured during the incident.