A team of retained firefighters were called to rescue a motorist whose car got stuck at the edge of a 1,400ft drop in remote countryside in the early hours of yesterday.

The driver used his mobile phone to contact the emergency services shortly before 5am after his sports car became trapped in icy conditions in the Long Mynd hills in Shropshire.

Neither ambulance crews nor police officers were able to make it through the treacherous conditions to reach the man, who was forced to keep his foot on the brake pedal until help arrived.

It took firefighters from Shrop-shire Fire Service nearly 20 minutes to reach the motorist and his passenger, who were both from Shrewsbury and aged in their late teens and mid 20s.

Steve Paige, sub-officer based at the nearby Church Stretton fire station, said: "The snow and ice up there was a lot worse than he anticipated and he literally got stuck and couldn't go any further.

"The car was slipping away from him, so he had his handbrake on and his foot on the brake. If he had taken his foot off the brake, he would have had no control of the car and it could have gone over the edge.

"He called the emergency services saying he was close to the edge of what is a very deep, sheer drop.

"We strapped some lines to the rear of the vehicle, a Nissan NSX, and put the other end on the appliance so the gentleman could release his foot off the brake and get out of the vehicle.

"I think he was very relieved to do so."