A 79-year-old woman had to be cut from her car after it rolled on to its side following a collision with a Ford Puma in Church Road, New Malden, this morning.

The woman, who was visibly shaken by the ordeal, suffered a serious arm injury and was taken by ambulance to St George’s Hospital, Tooting, soon after the 9.45am smash.

Ryan James, 22, was one of the first on the scene following the collision, and helped tip the woman’s green Toyota Corolla back on to its wheels just before the emergency services arrived.

Mr James, assistant manager of the Worcester Park Harvester situated metres from the crash, said he was alerted when he saw smoke rising from area.

He said: “I felt something was wrong, so I went straight over and saw the car tipped on to its side.

“There was an elderly woman stuck in there, so me and a scaffolding guy who had stopped nearby pushed it back on to its wheels. She was capable of speaking but was obviously quite shaken up.”

Police squad cars blocked the road to traffic for more than four hours while the badly damaged Toyota was winched on to a lorry and removed.

Lorraine Dicks, whose silver Puma had its left front wing dented and was shunted on to the kerb during the collision, said she had not realised her car was involved at first, despite watching the emergency services go to work on the stricken Toyota.

The 45-year-old, who works in Joanne Chandler Hair and Beauty, facing the crash site, said: “We came out to have a look at the car that was on its side, but I had no idea my car was involved until about 10 minutes later.

“We were more worried about the lady at the time and whether she was all right.

“I suddenly thought ‘my car’s over there’, and it was a real shock to see it up on the kerb - I certainly didn’t park it like that.

“It’s been a bit of a day, but we’ve had the police and fireman in here and they were all really nice - it’s always good to get a few uniforms around the place.”