A HAMPSHIRE firefighter has told how his colleagues freed him from the wreckage of his car after a fatal accident in the New Forest.

Lyndhurst based Peter Cooksey was off duty when his Rover Vitesse was involved in a head-on collision on the A337.

The driver of the Citroen Saxo died in the smash which closed the main Cadnam to Lyndhurst road for four hours on Monday.

As reported in yesterday's Daily Echo, all three people involved in the accident were cut free by firefighters from Lyndhurst, Totton and Romsey.

Last night Leading Firefighter Cooksey, 36, visited his colleagues at Lyndhurst fire station to thank them for saving his life.

He had been on a sightseeing trip to Bristol and was returning home in a car he had bought just five days earlier when the accident happened.

"I saw another car coming towards me and suddenly there was a big impact," he said.

"Firefighters gave me first aid and made my vehicle safe.

"We practice this sort of thing all the time using mock casualties and pretend cars and it was strange to be a victim in a real-life incident.

"Sub-Officer Ian Hickman approached me from the front to prevent me turning my head and risking spinal damage.

"He and the other lads are called out to a lot of accidents in the Forest and they're very good at what they do."

Leading Firefighter Cooksey was treated at Southampton General Hospital for whiplash and bruising.

"Luckily I was in a car that was very big and bulky. If I had been in another sort of vehicle it might have been a different story," he said.

Leading Firefighter Cooksey was travelling with a friend, Aki Imuro, 23, also of Lyndhurst, who suffered concussion.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service was able to warn the Lyndhurst crew that one of their colleagues was among those trapped.

A fire service spokesman said: "It's always traumatic to turn up at an incident and discover someone you know."

The driver who died in the crash is expected to be named later today.