A brave St Albans resident, who was the first person on the scene of a horrific crash on Watford Road last week, has told his dramatic story.

Herts Advertiser: The front of the ambulance after it crashed on Watford Road last monthThe front of the ambulance after it crashed on Watford Road last month (Image: Archant)

James, who did not want to give his surname, heard a loud crash at around 10am last Thursday (24).

He said: “It was louder than any crash I’ve heard before. I went outside and saw a scene which looked like it was from a Hollywood movie.

“I saw that an ambulance had destroyed my neighbour’s front wall and there was petrol gushing out and I could see another car around 70ft away.”

James says he then ran toward the ambulance, which was lying on its side and called out to the people inside.

He said: “But I couldn’t see anyone; it was all misted up and the airbags were blocking my vision.

“Eventually, I saw the driver moving so I called out to him and told him he needed to get out because it looked like the ambulance was going to explode.”

After seeing flames and sparks in the ambulance’s engine, James approached a Veolia truck which had stopped on the opposite side of the road.

He said: “I asked them if they had a fire extinguisher because it looked like it was going to blow up so they came along with a fire extinguisher and the flames went.”

While James’s wife was on the phone to the emergency services, he rushed inside to get a stepladder to help the ambulance driver from the vehicle.

He said: “I really thought it was going to explode. There were lots of toxic fumes coming out. It was quite a scary experience because I was very worried for them, more than anything else.

“I thought that if that were to explode, it would hurt a lot of people.”

The male driver seemed relatively unhurt, according to James, but the female passenger was badly injured and was taken off to hospital.

James said that further down the road, an elderly driver who had been driving a blue VW Polo was covered in blood and her middle-aged son was trapped inside the car.

He said: “They couldn’t get him out because the car had been completely smashed in. The fire-brigade were very quick – there must have been at least 30 firemen – and with their equipment they cut him out.”