A heart failure nurse rushed to pull out and rescue a man trapped in a burning car.

Mags Chineah, who has worked at the Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust for almost 30 years, carried out the heroic act after spotting a crash on the way to work.

On October 4, the nurse managed to pull out a man in his 50s from his car as his bonnets went up in flames at Dagenham Road, Rush Green.

Recalling the fire, she said: “I saw a car crash into a sign on a mini-roundabout and could see flames under the bonnet straight away. I was worried it would explode so I jumped out of the car and sprinted over.

“He was in shock so wasn’t moving very fast so I helped pull him out and got him away from the car as quickly as I could. I was completely acting on instinct.”

It was by chance that the nurse was even there, as she was being driven to work by her daughter and was running late.

The London Fire Brigade were quickly called to the scene, and the fire was put out before the car could explode.

It’s not the first time the mum-of-three has helped in an emergency, as in 1999 she also helped someone who passed out in a plane.