A trio of retired women fought off a gunman who hijacked their car on a day trip to France.

One of the "golden girls" disarmed the robber and bashed him on the head with his gun, while another hit his arm.

The hijacker fought them off and sped away in the car, with grandmother Anne Aylward in the back seat.

Mrs Aylward said: "I had my arms round his neck trying to throttle him.

"I knew if I didn't stop him then I would probably be dead. I yanked his head to the side and he lost control of the car."

The Rover ploughed into a concrete flower tub in the middle of the road and the attacker ran off empty-handed.

Joan Windsor, who pistol-whipped the attacker, said: "We didn't see the crash but we heard it. A man told us he saw Anne hobble out of the car with her face bleeding but she still had her handbag hanging over her shoulder."

The attack happened when the group of friends, who describe themselves as mature, went to Calais for the day to stock up on supplies and have a meal.

The friends had pulled up outside a chemist shop to buy toothpaste on the way to a supermarket.

But as driver Jean Douglas reversed, a man opened the door and pointed a long-barrelled gun in the car.

Miss Douglas, from Hove, said: "I heard two clicks from the gun and it was pointed in my face.

"He started going for the keys in the ignition but there was no way I was going to let him have them and started hitting his arm."

As she hit one arm, Mrs Windsor lunged over from the passenger seat and started thumping his other arm in which he was holding the gun.

Meanwhile, Mrs Aylward leaned over the back seat to grab his throat and pull his neck backwards.

When the attacker dropped the gun, Mrs Windsor seized it and jumped out of the car.

She said: "I got the gun so he couldn't shoot us. I then started hitting his neck with the butt, which was really heavy. I could hear Anne in the back seat, shouting, 'Hit him Joan, hit him with the gun'."

The attacker pulled Miss Douglas out of the front seat and climbed in.

Mrs Windsor had to jump out of the way as he sped off with Mrs Aylward still in the back.

Mrs Aylward, from Littlehampton, said: "I was really frightened then. I used all my strength to choke him. He must have been going about 90mph, then the car swerved and crashed."

The attacker ran off, leaving her with a cut on her head.

Mrs Aylward said: "I always thought I was a bit of a wimp. I don't know where my strength came from - probably panic."

Mrs Windsor was still holding the gun, which was fully-loaded with six bullets, when the police and ambulance arrived.

While Mrs Aylward was taken to hospital to have stitches and x-rays, her friends were taken to a police station to try to identify the culprit.

They looked at two suspects but could not identify their attacker.

Miss Douglas said she had seen the man standing on the pavement but had not really noticed him.

Mrs Windsor, from Hove, said: "We didn't look at him properly, we were just intent on him not getting away with anything."

The police took the women to the ferry terminal, where Mrs Windsor's son collected them from Folkestone in the early hours of Wednesday.

Mrs Aylward said: "It all seems unreal but we didn't let him get away with it."

The attempted hijack has not put the trio off going to France again but they have decided to steer clear of Calais in future.

Mrs Windsor said: "This won't stop us enjoying ourselves. My sister calls us have-a-go golden girls."

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said hijackings were rare but thieves had been known to target British drivers in Calais.

Martin Garrad, of Sussex Police community safety department, said: "While we applaud the success of the ladies on this occasion and would not want to detract from their bravery, it would be difficult to recommend action in other circumstances.

"The outcome this time was a happy one but it could have been tragic."