A SUFFOLK couple who helped pull a woman from flaming wreckage after her car hit a tree, have spoken of their fears for her.

A SUFFOLK couple who helped pull a woman from flaming wreckage after her car hit a tree, today spoke of their fears for her.

John and Elfreda Finbow were finishing lunch at their Bacton home at 1.20pm yesterday when they heard a loud bang.

A Ford Granada had veered across the road and in to the trunk of an oak tree.

Mrs Finbow said: "We went outside and my son was looking across our garden. We looked the same way and could see the car. As we got closer we saw the flames."

They called the emergency services and Mr Finbow ran back into their house, on the B1113 north of Stowmarket, to get a fire extinguisher. Two other people also stopped to help.

Mrs Finbow, a nurse, said: "The fire wouldn't go out so we had to get the woman out of the car.

"Before we moved her I checked her neck to see if it was okay and then we all helped to get her out and moved her to one side."

The 33-year-old woman, from the Ipswich area, had a serious injury to her leg so the couple did all they could to help her until paramedics arrived.

Mr Finbow said: "She was bruised badly round one of her eyes and had a serious gash on her knee.

"She wasn't really with it. She wasn't unconscious but she didn't know where she was.

"We stayed with her, talking to her to keep her awake. We didn't want to let her drift off."

Mrs Finbow added: "For her safety we had to get her out. She told me her name and I kept pressure on her leg wound.

"We were worried about the car and her safety but I just did my job."

The couple said that when they realised what had happened they instinctively went to the woman's aid and believed anyone would have done the same.

"You don't think about it, you just do it," Mr Finbow said. "You just try to do what any citizen would do."

The fire service, an ambulance and a Suffolk Accident Rescue doctor were at the scene within minutes and the woman, who suffered pelvic injuries and fractures, was airlifted to Ipswich Hospital.

She was given oxygen and treated at the roadside. Mr and Mrs Finbow were full of admiration for the emergency services, particularly for SARS.

Mr Finbow said: "I was chairman of Young Farmers in about 1987 and we raised money for SARS then and I think I met the doctor who helped the woman."

n A man escape unhurt after the Jaguar he was driving collided with a central reservation off the A14 slip road eastbound at Sproughton near Asda.

The accident which happened at around 3.25pm yesterday and caused traffic congestion in the area.