Man, 81, trapped between wheel of car and kerb in Walsall accident
An 81-year-old man was airlifted to hospital after he fell out of his car during an accident at a Walsall beauty spot this afternoon.
Emergency services were called to the Barr Beacon nature reserve after the driver became trapped between the kerb and the front wheel of the car he was driving during the course of the crash.
It took crews almost 60 minutes to free the man before he was airlifted to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital with serious head, arm and back injuries.
It is believed the driver, who has not been named, may have caught the accelerator pedal with his foot during the incident.
Fire crews used airbags to lift the Volvo estate off him when they were called to the site, in Beacon Road, shortly before 3pm.
Watch Commander Steve Palmer, of Aldridge Fire Station, said: "He was reversing and we think he may have caught the accelerator with his foot. Somehow he fell from the vehicle and was dragged by the car and ended up wedged underneath the front between the wheel and the kerb.
"It was a very difficult operation due to the height of the kerb. We used airbags to lift the car high enough for the doctors who came with the helicopter to stabilise him."
West Midlands Ambulance spokesman Steve Parry said: "Medics treated the patient for serious head, arm and back injuries.
"He was stabilised and fully immobilised as a precaution, with the use of a neck collar and spinal board, before being airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham."
