A retired Shropshire farmer has spoken of his miraculous escape as water gushed into his overturned car after it plunged into a brook.

John Davies, from Chelmick near Church Stretton, has told how he got out of his flooding car by ducking under water after it fell 10 foot down an embankment at East Wall on Sunday.

He said: “There was a drama. The car was filling up. It was about two foot deep and gushing in.”

Mr Davies, 81, said the force of the water broke the back window of the vehicle during his ordeal.

“I had to go down under the water and fight my way up as quick as I could to get some fresh air,” he added.

He said his vehicle had blocked the path of the brook which runs under the B4371 Church Stretton to Much Wenlock road so the water was rising fast.

“I was very lucky to get out of the vehicle. I am sure I was knocked out for a second or two. The water was coming in through the window and I was going against the water,” he said.

“I think what made it worse was the vehicle was blocking the brook.”

Mr Davies had been involved in a two-car collision just before the hump back bridge. His car slid on the muddy verge before clipping the parapet of the bridge and plunging down the embankment.

Young farmers, who were holding an event in the field opposite rushed to Mr Davies’s aid and helped him to scramble, soaking wet, up the embankment.

Mr Davies’s daughter-in-law Karen said she thought rescuers were “flabbergasted” to find Mr Davies out of the vehicle and back on the bridge.

She added: “All the emergency services really did a great job. It makes you realise how quickly they can respond and how important it is to keep the fire brigade in these rural villages.”

Mr Davies, who said he has been driving since he was 17 and never had an accident, spent 24 hours in hospital recovering from a bump on the head.

Paramedics and doctors even told the pensioner he must have a guardian angel after his amazing escape.

He added: “The people at the hospital were marvellous. I would like to thank everyone involved including the young farmers.

“I don’t know how the emergency services can get there so quickly. How do you get a complete crew of firemen together in that time?”

By Sophie Bignall