THE FATHER of Austrian coach crash survivor Jackie Carling told how he received a postcard from the family about their coach trip the day before the horror smash.

Grandfather Roy Davies was watching the six o'clock news on Tuesday when he heard a bus packed with tourists returning from a visit to Hitler's Berchtesgaden retreat had plunged off a mountain road killing five British holidaymakers.

Mr Davies, of Haglane Copse, in Pennington, revealed how he feared his daughter's family was caught up in the horrifying crash because the postcard said they were visiting the former Nazi dictator's lair in a coach that day.

But to their relief his daughter's husband Tim, 46, called at 7pm to say the family, from Highcliffe, including grandchildren William, 14, and Rebecca, 12, had escaped the wreckage with cuts and bruises.

"What are the chances of the whole family, all four of them, getting out alive," Mr Davies, who is retired, said. "It's like winning the lottery."

He believes the family was saved because they were all wearing their seatbelts when the coach rolled down a 200ft embankment off the road at Hallein, near Salzburg, after it swerved to avoid an overtaking minibus.

"My daughter said everyone else was thrown about like rag dolls," he explained. Mr Davies also revealed his pride in brave grandson William, who attends Highcliffe School, who refused to leave his mother Jackie's side as she lay trapped in the carnage of the upturned coach.

She told him to leave her in fear that diesel leaking from the coach could ignite at any moment, engulfing the wreckage in flames. But the plucky youngster refused to go and dragged his mother to safety.

Mr Carling became separated from his wife and son in the confusion. But after crawling through a 12ins gap out of the wreck and helping his daughter Rebecca to safety the engineer finally discovered his wife and son clinging to each other in a nearby field.

Back in England the Carlings' neighbours expressed shock and relief when they learnt about the family's miraculous escape.

Neighbour and friend, hairdresser Roxana Baker, 42, who is looking after the family's pet rabbit, said the Carlings had been looking forward to the holiday for weeks. She said: "Jackie said she didn't think the coach was ever going to stop rolling," When everyone got out it just looked like a bomb had gone off."

Driving instructor Pam Burr, who lives next door to the Carlings, was shocked when she discovered that the family was caught up in the smash.

"These things always happen to someone else, you never think it will happen on your own doorstep," she said.

Mr Carling was treated in hospital for broken ribs and cuts, while his wife is recovering from a thigh injury and glass wounds to an elbow. William escaped with a minor back injury while Rebecca is in shock.

First published: August 13