SCOTTISH snooker star Anthony McGill has revealed he almost died in a car crash.
The 30-year-old was driving home from a major event when he hit a puddle at almost 100 miles an hour on the M6.
McGill, who is from the city's Dalmarnock, wrote off his £24,000 Volkswagen Golf and has been left traumatised at the prospect of driving in poor weather ever since.
Fortunately, McGill escaped with just some minor scratches on his hand.
But he said: “I was in a car crash and I should have died actually.
“I lost to Mark Selby and I drove home that night. I smashed my car at 95 miles an hour on the motorway.
“I hit a puddle on the motorway and just veered off. It all happened so quickly.
“Ever since then I’ve just been s***ting myself driving, especially in bad weather.
“I thought I was going to die, I held on to the wheel and thought it was the end.
“If I show you a picture of the car you can’t actually believe how I came out alive never mind just a few scratches.
“It was a Golf, It was a total write off, I should have been a write off as well.
"I came out with just a few scratches on my hand, but I’m still scared driving now.”
McGill, who supports Celtic FC, will fight it out for a place in tomorrow’s UK Championship semi-finals against either veteran Anthony Hamilton or Stephen Maguire’s conqueror Luca Brecel.
The Glaswegian’s progress in York has secured his a spot at next month’s coveted 16-man Masters.
McGill passed up the chance to be a second reserve at the illustrious invitational event last season - and would have snuck in after Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski were booted out due to catching Covid-19.
But McGill revealed: “The Masters came around last year and it was only a month after my crash so I thought ‘I’m not driving down in that’.
“It was such bad weather and I thought ‘I’m not travelling in the hope of getting a game’.
“I still needed two people to pull out and I’m still scared driving now so I don’t regret it at all.”
It’s been an understandably life-changing experience for the traumatised tartan potter.
And McGill, who is chasing a maiden Triple Crown title this week, added: “I can drive in good weather, but when it’s bad I’m still worried about it.
“When it was raining I used to just drive like it was sunny. I was pretty careless.
“If it’s raining I’m much more careful now.
“This should be a three-hour drive for me but because it was bad weather it took me six hours because I was going so slow.
“Immediately after that I couldn’t drive in bad weather, now I drive extremely slow.”
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