A COUPLE were given an amazing second chance at love when they bumped into each other in the aisles of Accrington's Asda store - after 30 years apart.

Derek Crowley and Christine Houldsworth finally got round to tying the knot after being separated by 18,000 miles for the past three decades.

The couple, of Windsor Road, Great Harwood, began their romance in the 1970s when they dated for two years.

But when Derek proposed to Christine she turned him down as he was set to emigrate to Australia and she desperately wanted to stay in England.

During their years apart, neither heard any news of the other - until last September when they had their one-in-a-million-chance meeting.

Derek, 53, said: "I had come over to England for a short break and gone into Asda. Christine was there as well.

"We recognised each other straight away even though it had been a long time and it turned out we both had failed marriages behind us. But we hadn't altered in our feelings towards each other. It was as if nothing had changed."

Christine, 52, agreed to fly to Australia with Derek, where they picked up their romance and she agreed to marry him.

She said: "I told my son John about meeting Derek after all that time and he said chances like this don't come along every day. You have to take them.

"When Derek eventually asked me to marry him he asked me if I needed some time to think about it. I told him I'd already thought about it 30 years ago and I agreed."

Derek, a sheet metal worker who has two daughters Tracey and Hayley, and Christine, who is a retired housewife with three children John, Farran and Marcus, married at Sparth House, Clayton-le-Moors.

Derek added: "It is not only amazing, it is incredible. People don't often get chances like this, especially at our age. I think it sums it all up that when we told the people at the register office about our story they all burst into tears. They said if there's one wedding we have to come to, it's yours."