A netball coach averted a potentially fatal motorway collision by seizing control of a team bus when the driver fell ill at the wheel.
Lisa Stanley, the head coach of Team Northumbria and a former England international, took the wheel of the 12-tonne vehicle on the M1 near Chesterfield, in Derbyshire, on Saturday afternoon.
Stanley hit the brakes and steered the bus away from the central reservation, bringing it to a stop on an embankment.
The team and support staff on board were heading to a Superleague fixture against Loughborough Lightning when the incident happened. None of the passengers were injured, but paramedics took the coach driver to hospital as a precaution.
"I just acted instinctively," Stanley said. "As soon as I realised the driver wasn't well, I knew that I had to do something or there was going to be a serious accident.
"I did what anyone else would have done and used the brakes to slow the coach down while trying to steer it towards the hard shoulder. I'm just glad that everyone was OK."
The team's manager, Heather Steel, said: "Lisa is nothing short of a hero. Her quick thinking meant that the entire team and support staff managed to walk away without serious injury.
"It doesn't bear thinking about what could have happened. Yes, we're all a bit shocked by our ordeal, but we're glad we're alive."
The fixture against Loughborough was cancelled and will be rescheduled.