A driver whose car crashed off the M25 and plunged 40ft has spoken of his miracle escape after walking away with barely a scratch.

The remains of Patrick Hawtin's Renault LagunaPatrick Hawtin, of Fairhaven Road, Caversfield, Bicester, careered through the safety barriers above the River Lea, at Waltham Abbey, hit a tree and landed upside down on an island, narrowly missing an electricity pylon.

But the 25-year-old cheated death with just a small bump on his head, cuts to his hand and a stiff neck - but his Renault Laguna was not so fortunate.

Ambulance operations manager Jim Kenny, who attended the scene at 8.30am on Friday, said: "I don't think I've ever met such a lucky man."

Mr Hawtin, a field service engineer based in Basildon, Essex, was driving between junctions 25 and 26 on the M25 when he went to move from the outside lane to the middle lane. But his car collided with another vehicle, sending his car swerving towards the nearside barrier.

He said: "The first thing I thought was 'I'm going towards the barrier - this is really, really going to hurt'. So I braced myself but then it went straight through. Again, I thought this is really going to hurt.

"I was worried I was going to hurt my head because the airbags had inflated when I hit the barrier, and they're only meant to last a few seconds, so had deflated again.

"I crouched down and made myself as low as I could. I thought maybe the car would hit an embankment and roll down.

"After the car landed, I thought it might explode so I got out. I wasn't in shock or anything. At least I don't think so."

He added: "When I see the pictures now, I don't believe it's my crash. It looks like all the other pictures you see - like it happened to someone else."

Emergency services found Mr Hawtin sitting next to the wreckage on a narrow strip of land between two sections of the River Lea. He was taken to Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, for a check up and released.

Mr Kenny said: "The chances of this man surviving this crash must have been minute. To survive the fall is amazing but to have missed the two waterways is extraordinary."

Environment Agency officer Simon Johnson witnessed the aftermath of the crash. He said: "I saw the driver walking off and getting into the ambulance.

"When you look at the car it's staggering.

"I've never seen anything like it. Anyone else would have died."