EMERGENCY services were called to a road accident in Ipswich after a car ended up on its roof in a ditch.The accident happened on Humber Doucy Lane, at the junction with Tuddenham Road, at just before 4pm yesterday.

FIREFIGHTERS dramatically freed a man trapped upside down in his overturned car yesterday afternoon.

The accident happened at about 3.50pm when the silver Ford Ranger was turning left from Tuddenham Road on to Humber Doucy Lane in Ipswich.

The male driver and two young female passengers, believed to be the driver's daughter and friend, were trapped in the vehicle as it landed on its roof in a ditch.

An eye-witness who arrived at the scene shortly after the crash said the driver had managed to release the two young girls freeing them from the vehicle almost immediately.

“Apparently they were turning left off Tuddenham Road into Humber Doucy Road when the he lost control of the back end, I imagine it locked up and the car flipped landing on its roof in the ditch,” he said.

“When I got here the two girls had managed to get out, the driver managed to undo their seatbelts and free them.

“He was talking and breathing but had banged his head and was trapped.

“The roads were damp and it was still very cold when it happened, only a few degrees above zero so the conditions weren't great.”

Three fire crews, one from headquarters and two from Princes Street including a rescue tender, arrived at the scene along with an ambulance crew and police officers who blocked off the section of road.

The fire officer in charge at the scene, Geoff Pyke the Ipswich and District commander said a new piece of equipment was used to help safely free the injured man from the upturned car.

“Because the car was upside down on its roof we were able to make use of a new bit of stabilisation equipment called Stabfast which is used when vehicles are inverted to stabilise the rear end of the car.

“Any movement can be very risky when you are trying to release a person from a vehicle. This piece of equipment, which is now on every front line fire engine, gives us the best opportunity to safely rescue people who are trapped.

“We have done a lot of training using Stabfast so it was good to see it being used so effectively in this situation.

“We were working with paramedics to get him out on a long board.”

Once freed from the vehicle the male casualty was taken to Ipswich Hospital by paramedics where he was treated for minor injuries.