A petrolhead was nearly crushed by his own two-ton vintage car when it rolled onto his chest.

The man, in his 40s, became trapped under his old American car that he was working on in Ashington on Wednesday morning.

It is believed that the car, weighing nearly two tons, rolled off a jack on private land in Rectory Lane around 9.55am, trapping the man and constricting his breathing.

He was able to use his mobile phone to call for help and police officers were quickly on scene to release him.

The man was taken to Worthing Hospital for a precautionary check-up.

Road policing officer PC Peter De Silvo was one of the first on the scene. He said: "One of my colleagues had hopped over a gate and found the man as I arrived.

"He was completely covered by the vehicle and the weight of it meant that he was struggling to breathe, but he was still able to talk to us and tell us where the jack was.

"We replaced it and jacked the car back up, but it was still sinking on the jack so we pulled him out and kept him calm until ambulance colleagues arrived to attend to him.

"He's a really lucky man. If he hadn't been able to get at his mobile phone, he could have laid there unnoticed for ages as there was no part of him that was showing from underneath the car.

“We were just glad that he was talking to us and it looks as though his injuries aren't too serious."