A LONE man lay trapped in the wreckage of his car for up to six hours before a chance discovery by a police officer.

The discovery probably saved the life of the driver, who survived plunging temperatures after ploughing into a ditch along Rochester Road at Shorne, near Gravesend, after hitting a tree.

The 38-year-old motorist had to be cut free from the mangled BMW by firefighters.

Firefighters say the wreckage was only discovered because of the instinctive actions of passing police officer, PC Jim Thomsett.

He was on a routine patrol along the road when he saw part of a car poking through a hedge. He drove on but something told him to go back.

PC Thomsett said: “I couldn’t see anyone at first but when I looked in the back seat I saw a jacket, and when I leaned in and pulled it back, there he was. He said he had been there six hours.”

The officer kept the driver talking and conscious until colleagues from the emergency services arrived.

The victim was taken to hospital in Dartford with facial injuries and suffering from hypothermia.

He has since been transferred to the Queen Victoria Hospital in Sussex for further medical treatment. He has not been named.

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