EXCLUSIVE

A SUCCESSFUL Macclesfield businessman, who sustained debilitating injuries in a head-on car collision which he says turned him into an epileptic, is suing the other driver for up to half a million pounds.

Former "action man" John Stanger, 48 - who travelled the world with his job and who indulged in extreme sports - was a £50,000-a-year MD for a Danish textile company before the accident three years ago.

Today, the dad-of-two spends his day on a sofa at his semi-detached home on Lakelands Close in Macclesfield, unable to work and barely able to watch TV.

"I have to sleep two hours a day otherwise I am wasted," he said. "It's such a big deal to make a simple dish like scrambled eggs.

"My greatest regret is I can't play with my kids when they get home from school."

"If I don't rest when I need to it is like getting jet lag tenfold."

And he added: "Imagine a man my age learning to walk, learning to feed himself and learning to tie his shoelaces all over again.

"It is such simple things which define the devastation in my life."

John is not bitter - "After all I am alive. It's just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time" - but he wants to fund a better life for himself and his family by seeing the man, who he claims has shattered his life, in court.

He has launched a High Court legal battle for damages in excess of £150,000 - possibly up to half a million pounds - from the landscape gardener, who was jailed for eight months and banned from the road for four years following the crash.

This week the gardener said: "I have been to prison for this and have just got back on my feet. I have been made to feel that I have killed someone."

The gardener, who lives in the East Midlands, added: "I suffered brain damage, broke my jaw in three places and had 120 stitches in my face. The money in question is a hell of a lot and I know this man needs money because of his kids, but not that much. He has already had a pay-out for his car and for his original injuries."

Mr Stanger, who spent three weeks in intensive care and two months in hospital, was commuting the 55 miles from Macclesfield to Nottingham when a Land Rover collided with him at 70mph as it straddled centre double-white lines on the Buxton to Ashbourne road.

He was trapped in his blazing top-of-the-range new Mercedes but was plucked to safety by a "big strapping builder" who literally ripped off the car door with his bare hands and dragged him out as flames engulfed him.

The collision, which occurred in January 2003, resulted in so much damage that John's daughter Lauren, now aged ten, did not even recognise him.

Described as an "action man" by his wife Kay, John had to quit his job and could no longer indulge in his passion for outdoor pursuits. Serious head injuries caused him to lose organisational and mental processing skills, he claims.

"When I found out that I couldn't go back to work it came as a massive body blow - I just broke down," John said.

"I used to travel the world with my job and loved skiing, running, sailing and the great outdoors and now I can't do any of those things."

Kay, 43, said: "A lot of people's first impression is that he is fine, but he has substantial head injuries. The accident has changed our lives forever. My life is now like a rollercoaster.

"When Lauren first saw John in hospital she just walked away - they were very close - and she said to me 'that's not my daddy' and was upset for a long time.

"John was an action man and now he can't work out where he is going or handle money. He can't even be left in the house with the kids on his own because of the epilepsy he has developed.

"The consultant said that my husband shouldn't be here - the accident was so bad he shouldn't be alive.

"I'm still in shock about the whole thing as John used to take care of everything and now I have to, but all our friends and neighbours are great and help out."

The accident occurred just one month after he had started a new job with materials handling company Caljan. They are based in Nottingham and John, who speaks fluent Chinese and Russian, and has worked in Israel, France and Switzerland.

John, who had shattered his wrist and broken two ribs in the crash, was rushed to Derby Royal Infirmary , where two days later he suffered a stroke.

He then started having breathing difficulties, his left lung collapsed and, after being reinflated, he caught septicaemia.

John said: "I was on sloppy food and had lost so much weight that I looked like a skeleton."

The damages case at Nottingham County Court is ongoing and the Stangers are hoping for a result within the year.