A motorist with serious back and neck injuries had to be cut from her BMW after careering off the road and ending up teetering precariously on the top of an embankment.

Firecrews from Shoebury, Southend and Leigh used a combination of air bags and wooden blocks to stabilise the BMW in Pointers Lane, Shoebury, which was swaying on the top of the embankment and in danger of falling into a ditch at 3.20pm yesterday.

Firefighters then set to work cutting into the roof of the hatchback following paramedics' concerns about the driver's neck.

The woman, in her 20s, complained of pins and needles in her neck and paramedics wanted to put a spine board into the back of her seat to carefully get her out the vehicle.

Sub Officer Ian Leighton at Shoebury Fire Station said: "It was like something from the film the Italian Job. The car was rocking badly so we put two-foot air bags at the back of the car and wooden boards at the front."

The woman, who was conscious the whole time after the accident, was rushed to Southend Hospital in an ambulance.

Published Thursday, May 1, 2003

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