A paramedic answering a 999 call narrowly escaped death when a motorist smashed into his ambulance and drove off.

Martin Hammond, aged 44, was tending to a stroke victim when a car ploughed into the emergency vehicle, ripping the door off.

Luckily he managed to leap into the back of the emergency vehicle in the nick of time, leaving him shocked and shaken rather than with serious injuries.

The accident happened at 10.20pm on Sunday in Newhampton Road West in Wolverhampton. Mr Hammond, who has worked for West Midlands Ambulance Service for 20 years, yesterday said the driver had failed even to slow down following the accident.

As a first responder, he had arrived at the stroke victim's house by car and quickly established that the patient needed to be taken into hospital. The ambulance was double parked with its doors open and ramp down so the patient could be stretchered in.

"We had just loaded the patient onto the vehicle using a stretcher and were treating her," he said. "I heard a loud crunch and instinctively jumped into the back of the ambulance. The car ripped the door clean off. If I hadn't acted as I did, I would have been crushed and killed without a shadow of a doubt.

"If it had happened 30 seconds earlier all of the crew and the patient would have been killed. As it was we were lucky, although the patient had to wait another 15 minutes for another ambulance to come before she went to hospital."

He said it was the first time in his career that anything like that has happened.

"I looked out of the window screen and saw the car speeding off – it was going at a speed of at least 30mph when it hit the ambulance and didn't stop or slow down. There was debris all over the world. Whether he thought he had killed somebody, I don't know. I was shocked and upset that someone could just drive off like that.

"I hope the driver thinks about his actions today and comes forward to report this incident to the police".

A spokeswoman said: "Police are appealing for witness following a non-stop road traffic accident involving an ambulance and a black saloon car in Whitmore Reams on Sunday. "The driver is described as an Asian male with a moustache."

Contact the road policing unit at Wolverhampton with information.