A WOMAN who survived a horrific car crash is looking forward to the future three years on from the accident.

Tara McIntyre, 25, nearly died after a crash in High Garrett in February 2014, when a drink-driver in a Mercedes crashed into her Ford Ka.

The driver, Ben Hagon, was travelling at 60mph on the wrong side of the 40mph road and was jailed for two years and eight months at Chelmsford Crown Court in 2015.

The former Tabor Academy student, of Vauxhall Drive, Braintree, was flown to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, by the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance with a severed aorta, a fractured spine and a brain injury.

Miss McIntyre said: “After the crash I just didn’t know what happened, I was taken to Addenbrooke’s and then a rehab centre in Norwich where I had to learn to walk again.

“I think it’s happened and I’m getting on with it.

“I’m being positive not negative. It could have been so much worse.

“I’m really proud of myself, I never thought I would get this far and I’m only three years in to my recovery. I’ve got the time of my life yet.”

Miss McIntyre volunteers at the British Heart Foundation shop in Braintree town centre and has raised thousands for Essex Air Ambulance.

She can now walk several miles using a walker and cycle for five miles on a machine at the gym, designed for those with similar injuries who have multiple sclerosis.

Miss McIntyre said: “Indoors I can walk on my own because I can use things around me.

“I’m cooking too - I’m making tacos, spaghetti bolognese and chilli. I never used to enjoy cooking but now I can do it by myself, I just have someone watching behind me.

“I’m also hoping to get the keys to my own house soon, we have found one subject to contract so I am keeping my fingers crossed.”