ARMY volunteer Robert Kuczaj saved a motorist's life by dragging him from a blazing car on Selsley Common - risking his own life in the process.

The man's car had crashed into a tree and smoke was pouring from the bonnet when Mr Kuczaj - a sergeant major with the Territorial Army - drove passed on Saturday afternoon.

"I just kept screaming at him that if I didn't get him out he was going to die," said the fearless 55-year-old father-of-two.

"I had to get through to him because his foot was on fire."

Another motorist gave him a portable fire extinguisher to tackle the flames. "I passed it to him but he couldn't use it so I grabbed it and tried myself," he said.

The Renault Megane driver - who was from Dursley and heading towards Uley - lost control on a bend near the gliding club airfield at Nympsfield. With much of the front of the car in flames Mr Kuczaj tried to wrench the driver's door open.

"Eventually it buckled enough at the top for me to open it, I think it was just sheer adrenaline," he said.

Having been pulled to safety the driver was airlifted to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, where he remains in a stable condition but with several broken bones.

Crews from Stroud fire and ambulance services attended the scene shortly after 4pm.

"I wasn't thinking about myself, just about getting him out," said Mr Kuczaj. "I just couldn't watch a bloke burn to death."

Fire chiefs have commended his courageous actions. "He is a very brave individual who no doubt saved the life of the driver and is to be commended for his quick thinking and decisive actions," said Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service Station Officer Tom Curtis.

Having served in the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire TA for 37 years, Mr Kuczaj, from Cam near Dursley, was well prepared for such a moment.

"We do train for civilian issues, which must have helped in some way," he said.

Proud wife Pat, 51, also praised her husband's heroism. "Not many people would have done what he did, the driver would never have lived if it had not been for my husband," she said.