Mobile phone may have saved crash victim

The life of an injured man whose car had crashed down an embankment near Maidenhead may have been saved by his mobile phone, according to firefighters.

The accident happened at about 10.30pm yesterday, when the car left the carriageway on the A404 just before the Bisham Abbey roundabout.

It plunged down the embankment near Hurley Lane, hitting the trees at the bottom. The injured driver was able to use his mobile to call for help and three fire engines from Maidenhead and Slough rushed to the scene.

They had to use heavy equipment to cut the roof off the car and release the man, while the carriageway was closed.

Firefighters eventually left the scene at 11.55pm

Firefighter 'Woody' Wood from Maidenhead Fire Station said: "The embankment was very muddy and we had to use ladders to get down."

He said the driver could very well have not been spotted all night if he had not been able to call for help, adding: "It is definitely his lucky phone now."

A doctor and paramedics attended the scene and the man - who suffered multiple injuries - was taken to John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, by ambulance.