A Shropshire man was this afternoon fighting for his life in hospital after a freak accident in which a flying metal rod smashed through the front windscreen of the car he was driving.

The driver, who is 27 but has not been named, was hit in the face by the near 3ft-long pole which speared his blue Volkswagen Golf after bouncing off the road in Wolverhampton yesterday.

A front seat passenger watched helplessly as the driver struggled to avoid the flying metal rod on the 40mph stretch of road at 3.15pm. The piece of metal, which  was three inches wide, is feared to have either fallen from the back of a lorry that did not stop, or been kicked up from the road into the victim’s car by passing traffic.

The man amazingly managed to bring his year-old Golf to a standstill without hitting anything else, despite suffering serious injuries in the accident in Wergs Road, Tettenhall.

The pole flew through the windscreen and is understood to have hit the victim in the face near an eye. Horrified passers-by rushed to help but the man was so badly hurt he had to wait until fire crews arrived before being carried out of the car.

He was airlifted to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, where doctors said today he remained in a critical but stable condition.

Police were stopping drivers travelling past the scene this afternoon in a bid to get information about the accident.

Tettenhall fire station watch commander Paul Baker said: “It appears to have been a freak accident.”