Terry Hartley is hoping his luck will change in the new Millennium - after firemen came to his rescue twice in one day.

Firefighters pulled Mr Hartley from his Vauxhall Cavalier car after he lost control and embedded it in a wall in Huddersfield Road, Brighouse, in the early hours of Wednesday.

Then that evening they were called to a house with a smouldering washing machine - to find Mr Hartley desperately trying to waft away the smoke.

He said: "If I didn't have bad luck I wouldn't have any. It's been a terrible year. I split up with my wife, now I've written-off my car and blown up the washing machine."

Mr Hartley, 47, of St John Street, Brighouse, loosened his top teeth in the car crash but was released from the Royal Halifax Infirmary after X-rays were taken.

He suffers from angina and is awaiting heart surgery in a bid to restore his health.

He said: "I was nipping out for a kebab when I lost sight in my right eye which caused the crash.

"It's never happened before, the next thing I knew I was being pulled out of the car.

"That night I was watching the TV when I heard a loud bang.

"I managed to switch the washer off and close the door on it. The firefighters had to throw it into the garden."

He added: "I didn't remember the firemen but they remembered me.

"When I asked them what they were doing the next night they said 'don't bother ringing, it's our night off'."

Sub-officer Paul Uttley, of Brighouse Fire Station, said: "We couldn't believe it when it was Mr Hartley again.

''We had to give him oxygen therapy to calm him down. After putting the washing machine out we wished him all the best for the Christmas period.''

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