THIS dramatic photograph shows how a tree saved a driver from a potentially fatal plunge down a steep bank.

The woman's Toyota Corolla car careered off the road, smashed through a fence, and flipped on to its roof after a collision involving a Vauxhall van.

It slid 20ft down the 100ft bank before coming to rest against the tree.

The car was balanced so finely that firefighters had to secure it with ropes before they could rescue the driver, who was trapped behind the steering wheel.

Firefighters from High Handenhold Station, near Stanley, County Durham, were first on the scene.

Station manager Andy Whitehead said: "It had begun to roll down the bank, but fortunately, the roll was arrested by a tree.

"There was very possibly another 80 feet to go. If that tree had not stopped it, the car would have gone. It was a lucky escape."

The woman, who has not been named, was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Gateshead, with suspected pelvic injuries.

A man driving the van suffered minor injuries and was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City.

The accident happened on the A6076 road at Burdon Plain, between Stanley and Sunniside, Gateshead, shortly before 2.30pm on Tuesday. The road, which had to be closed, reopened at 4.30pm.

Later that day, a man spent two hours trapped in his vehicle after it careered off a bridge and plunged into a stream.

Firefighters were called to the smash on the B6313 road at Glen Terrace, in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, at about 7pm. Police said the driver, a 20-year-old from the Barley Mow area, had lost control of his Suzuki Grand Vitara 4x4 vehicle.

It crashed through a road barrier and fell 20ft, flipped through the air and landed back on its wheels in Stella Gill, a 4ft-deep beck.

PC Keith Butler, from Durham Constabulary's accident investigation unit, said: "The gentleman had a very lucky escape. Fortunately, he was in a Suzuki Vitara, which is a very substantial vehicle, and that has almost certainly prevented his injuries from being any worse."

Police closed the road for two hours while firefighters fought to free the man, by cutting off the roof and one side of the vehicle.

He was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham, where he was last night still being treated for serious head injuries and a cracked vertebrae.

His condition was last night stable and his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.