FOUR have-a-go heroes risked their lives to rescue a man trapped in a burning car.

The four rescuers stopped to help after a head-on crash on a country lane near Winchester.

One driver had got out of his car but the other was trapped as fire spread towards him and threatened to engulf the vehicle.

One of the rescuers, Tony Higham, 65, a retired naval officer, told the Daily Echo: “One car was starting to burn and was right alongside the other car in which a gentleman was trapped by his legs with his feet caught in the pedals.

“We tried to push the car from the fire but it was too damaged and we could not open the driver’s door.

“We could hear the burning.

The driver was semi-conscious, he wasn’t screaming but he was making no effort to get out of the car.

“We finally got the rear passenger door open and a gentleman got in and I got in and pulled the driver’s seat back and we pulled with brute force through the rear passenger door.

All the time the heat was getting more intense. There were bangs going off, the tyres exploding.

We were all very conscious there was petrol in the tank about to go up.

“The car was engulfed in flames as we got him out. It was pretty warm; you could feel the heat.

“We thought the petrol tank would explode. It didn’t, but the flames were 20 feet high, the trees were on fire.”

Mr Higham, of Church Lane, Hambl e - don, denied he was h e r o : “Anybody would have done the same. Nobody was going to walk away from that.

The three others did a fantastic job.”

The drama happened on Belmore Lane, Owslebury, near Winchester at around 6.30pm on Sunday when a Skoda Octavia and a Ford collided.

A police spokeswoman said a 49- year-old man from the Skoda was taken to hospital with leg injuries.

The other driver was also taken to hospital by ambulance. Their conditions were unavailable.

Firefighters from Winchester wore breathing apparatus and two hose reels as they fought the flames.

PC Jeremy Bryon, from the Roads Policing Unit, said the quick thinking of the rescuers had saved a life.