EMERGENCY service crews rescued a driver who was trapped in his badly damaged vehicle for nearly an hour.

Medical attention was given to the injured 51-year-old after he became pinned to his seat by the front of his crushed car.

The Great North Air Ambulance was on scene within three minutes to administer treatment to the driver, believed to be from Marske, in east Cleveland.

Air crew paramedic Paul Scott treated the driver, who remained conscious inside the Volkswagen following the collision on the southbound carriageway of the A19, close to Crathorne.

He said: "If he hadn't had his seat belt on, he'd be dead."

After the man was taken to hospital, Cleveland Police spent several hours yesterday trying to clear the mangled wreckage.

The driver is thought to have lost control and smashed into a bridge parapet before the car ended up twisted under the crash barrier.

Mr Scott said: "When I first saw the car I thought we were attending a fatal. He was trapped in the car for about 45 minutes, so I had to treat him inside the car with pain relief drugs.

"The impact crushed the dashboard onto his knees and he couldn't move. Firefighters had to cut off the doors and the roof to release him.

"He was conscious throughout the rescue, but couldn't remember what happened. He said it was all a blur. He is very lucky to be alive."

The driver was put on a spinal board and taken to The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, with serious chest, leg and facial injuries at about noon.

Cleveland Police were inundated by calls from members of the public alerting them to the crash at 11.10am yesterday.

A spokesman said it was a difficultto recover the vehicle because of its resting place under the crash barrier. Crash investigators spent most of the day at the scene, about one mile south of the A174 junction of the A19, heading southbound.