PASSERS-BY last night told of their desperate attempts to save the life of an elderly driver who was struck by a car after his vehicle became stuck in snow on a rural road in Bradford.

Graham Maloney, 75, who was with his wife Molly, had got out of his Peugeot 206 car to try to free it on a bend in Baldwin Lane, Clayton, as they returned to their home in the village from a family party in Thornton on Boxing Day at about 9pm.

His neighbour Chris Fairbrother said the retired metalworks manager was then hit by a Vauxhall Astra which also shunting his vehicle, still containing his wife, into a stone wall.

Shocked passers-by and people in other cars stopped to help until emergency services arrived but Mr Maloney was pronounced dead at the scene by ambulance staff.

The driver of the Vauxhall, who is also understood to have had family with him, was described by witnesses as being "devastated".

Among those who tried to help were James Hunt, 21, and his girlfriend Kimberley Hields.

Mr Hunt, who has first aid training through his role as a hockey coach, gave CPR to Mr Maloney for about 45 minutes.

And he and Miss Hields spoke on the phone to an ambulance crew until paramedics arrived.

Mr Hunt said: "There were a lot of people stood round him, and I started giving him first aid and CPR.

"We were talking to the ambulance crew and making sure he wasn't in any more danger.

"We wanted his wife to know that people were putting an effort in to helping him. We were trying to make him comfortable.

"There were terrible driving conditions on the road."

Miss Hields said: "When we first saw him there were people stood around, I don't think they really knew what to do. The conditions were bad because it was freezing and still snowing. We were trying to help him as much as we could."

Mr Maloney has two sons, one who lives Bingley and another who lives in the US, who was due to arrive back in Bradford today.

Mr Fairbrother's mother Judith, who has known the Maloney family for 13 years, said his death had shocked the street where they lived.

"Graham was such a lovely man," she said.

"Just the fact he was always so helpful and always so friendly makes this even harder to bear.

"He would do anything for anyone who needed him, cut the grass or do odd jobs, anything. He was a very active man, a never sit still man - he should have had years left ahead of him yet.

"He was a best friend of my husband Steve. He would pop round for five-minutes and stay an hour for man chat and talk about computers. We will miss him."

Mrs Fairbrother, who has been comforting Mrs Maloney at home, said the couple had been returning home from a family Boxing Day party in Thornton when the accident occurred.

She said: "I cannot think of a safer driver in the world than Graham, he taught our son Chris how to drive in the snow.

"He had chosen the safest route home from where they'd been inThornton and cut down the first way into Clayton. Molly told me they had hardly been moving, they were going that slow but then they had got stuck against the kerb and he got out to try to sort it.

"She is in shock and, of course, is asking a lot of 'if onlys' - like we'd all do. 'If only we'd set off a few minutes earlier or later, if only we'd gone home a different way' but I'm sure Graham chose the safest way.

"They were just two minutes from home - that's the tragedy of it."

Police are investigating the circumstances of the crash and have appealed for witnesses to call the West Yorkshire force's Major Collision Enquiry Team on 101.