A Stevenage man run over by his own car has spoken about the moment he was inches from death.

The man in his 60s and from the Chells area of Stevenage, who did not want to be identified, was fixing a fuel leak under his 1950s classic car on Sunday afternoon when the vehicle rolled forwards off its wheel ramps and came crashing down on top of him.

Pinned by the chest by the weight of the one-and-a-half tonne vehicle, which had its engine running and was rolling forwards down the incline of a street, he called for help.

Neighbour Nick Farrow was parking his car nearby after bringing his children back from football practice when he heard the crash and screams.

The 45-year-old said: “My wife told the kids to go and get help from next door. We stopped the car rolling. He was screaming his head off so his airways were OK.”

They were joined by more neighbours who rushed to the scene after the children raised the alarm. Together they lifted the car up from the front while Mr Farrow’s wife Veronica helped the man crawl out.

Mr Farrow said: “We asked him if he was able to get out and he did manage to roll out. My wife is an A&E nurse at Lister and she told him to stay still on the ground until the ambulance service got there.”

An ambulance crew arrived shortly before 4pm and took the man to Lister Hospital for treatment. He was discharged the same evening with bruising to his chest and shoulder, but no further damage. A neighbour drove him home.

The classic car enthusiast, who bought the vehicle on a whim in April, said he was lucky to be alive.

“I’m incredibly grateful to the neighbours and to the paramedics and the people at accident and emergency.

“I was very, very lucky. It came down and one of the wheels landed on a length of wood I had laid down – otherwise it would have gone down another two inches into my chest. That plank of wood probably saved my life.

“I don’t know how it happened. All I can think is that I didn’t put the handbrake on hard enough.”