A WOMAN who survived a head-on collision caused by a drug addict is unable to work and without financial support.

Shelley Oxenham spoke to The Northern Echo yesterday for the first time since the accident, in which Alison Dawson, who was under the influence of methadone, died.

Miss Oxenham, 25, spent five months in a wheelchair, is undergoing physiotherapy and faces more operations.

But she is not eligible for any financial support - despite not being able to work.

Miss Oxenham survived the collision on the A689, near Wynyard Village, Billingham, on November 21, last year.

The driver of the other car, Alison Dawson, 25, from Chester-le-Street, died when her car swerved off the road and collided head on with Miss Oxenham's Peugeot 206.

At an inquest into her death, it was revealed that Miss Dawson had been on prescribed methadone to treat a drug addiction and had been driving without a licence and without insurance.

Miss Oxenham, of Middridge, near Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, was cut free from the wreckage and airlifted to hospital.

She broke her thigh bone and ankles, and a lung had collapsed. Titanium bars have been inserted into her ankle, arm and leg.

Miss Oxenham had finished a degree in sports science and was hoping to complete a teacher training course.

She said: "It was terrible. It's difficult to explain - one day you're normal, the next day you're put in a situation and you don't know how to feel.

"I have been angry about it - I think if she had not been on drugs her reaction would have been quicker. I have flashbacks and get depressed."

Miss Oxenham does not qualify for disability living allowance or incapacity benefit. She has been told to apply for job seekers allowance - but to qualify she has to actively seek employment - something she cannot do until she has recovered.

She said: "What am I supposed to live off? I have no money at all. I don't think it is fair that I have to rely on my mum and dad, especially when the accident was not my fault."

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "I cannot comment on individual cases."

Entitlement to disability living allowance is based on the effect that a person's particular disability has on their need for help with personal care or the extent of their walking difficulties - each case has to be looked at individually.