Doctors set up a makeshift emergency department in a field as they fought to save the life of a seriously-injured motorist.

The man was trapped upside down in his crushed car after it plunged 40ft down an embankment, near Mountsorrel.

Firefighters took an hour and a half to free him while a GP, who had rushed to the scene from home, kept him stable.

A second team gave him emergency treatment as he lay on a stretcher in the field. He was then moved 200 metres on the back of a fire service pick-up truck to a waiting ambulance.

Dr Rod Mackenzie, Leicester Royal Infirmary's emergency medicine consultant, said: "We did all the things we would do in a hospital – just in a field.

"When the person is released from the car that is just the beginning. We still have to do this critical care work – but this time we are in a field in the middle of the night."

The motorist, who has not been named, is believed to have suffered head injuries in the accident at 1.30am on Sunday, off the A6 at Mountsorrel. It is not clear why the vehicle had left the road.

Dr Nick Foster, a GP at Kegworth Medical Practice, kept the man stable as firefighters cut him free.

He is part of the East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme, which sends volunteer doctors out to serious incidents.

He went to the scene from his home in Kegworth after being alerted by East Midlands Ambulance Service.

Dr Foster said: "He was in a very crumpled car. It was a total mess. The fire brigade were trying to get to him, but it was like a closed box.

"They were cutting the car, and whilst that was going on I was keeping him stabilised.

"I had to check his airway was open, he was breathing okay and that he was not deteriorating. It was hard to get to him.

"It's really crucial to have an experienced team giving treatment at the scene, and not just at the hospital."

After firefighters freed the man, his medical care was passed on to Dr Mackenzie, who had travelled to the scene by ambulance along with two senior nurses.

They are part of the "flying squad" – a team of highly-trained medics who are called out to serious incidents.

Dr Mackenzie said: "We set up our own emergency bay right there. We have our specialist equipment and gave him an emergency anaesthetic and continued the care as he was put on the back of a fire service pick-up truck and driven slowly across the field to the ambulance."

He said Dr Foster's intervention "saved time and helped the patient", adding: "We all work together in these situations."

The doctors said they could not reveal the condition of the motorist due to patient confidentiality reasons.

A police spokeswoman said confirmed that one person had been taken to Queen's Medical Centre, in Nottingham, with serious injuries.