IT is hard to describe how claustrophobic it is to be trapped inside a broken shell of a car with the noise of crunching metal and shattering glass all around you.

Even the calm and reassuring words of firefighter David Shawcroft went only a little way in easing my panic as his colleagues began cutting the roof off the car.

As each post was severed the roof lowered a few centimetres, creeping ever closer to my head.

I agreed to be cut from a wrecked car as part of Road Safety Week without giving much thought at all to what it would actually be like.

It didn’t start off too badly, as firefighter Shawcroft climbed into the car behind me and grabbed hold of my head to keep it still in case of any spinal injuries.

As he asked me basic questions like my name and what had happened, he checked my pulse and responses before deciding on a course of action.

Because I was fully responsive, rather than unconscious or badly injured, the team decided to cut the roof off the car and slid me out the back on a spinal board.

They later explained that had I been in danger they would have gone to ‘Plan B’, where a casualty is pulled from the car as fast as possible and taken straight to hospital.

Using boards to protect my face they began by smashing all the windows of the car so they could safely take the roof off.

They then used hydraulic equipment to begin cutting through the car’s posts.

Outside the car it doesn’t sound too loud but inside, the crack as metal breaks apart is deafening.

With all posts severed they lifted the roof and slid a board down my back to keep me straight in case of any undetected injury, before sliding me out of the back of the car.

The whole process took around 15 minutes but it felt like an age.

It was a scary experience and I can’t imagine how much more frightening it must be if you have just experienced a crash for real, are injured or worried about other people in the car.