THE heroes who saved a man's life by pulling him from a burning car said it was just moments before it was engulfed in flames.

Nick Thomas, 50, of Blaina, and Dale Davies, 28, of Pontypool, pulled a man from his Volkswagen golf after he crashed near a roundabout in Blaina in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mr Thomas and his partner Deborah Steed, 56, a nurse, said they woke up to a loud bang and saw out of their house window the car's lights flashing.

The painter and decorator said by the time he got dressed and ran over to the car it was on fire.

He said: "As I was getting towards the car I could see the driver was out cold. I shouted a couple of times and clipped his face to wake him up.

"I went to the passenger side door as the driver’s door was blocked. I grabbed his hand and the other man came around and we both pulled him out together.

"There were definitely flames coming through the engine as the car was filling up with smoke."

Mr Davies was on his way to pick up his friend Jason Jones, 26, to take him to work at RF Brookes in Rogerstone when he came across the car. Mr Jones phoned the emergency services and Mr Davies went to help pull the driver from the burning car.

Mr Davies, a father of one, said he could feel the heat of the flames which had reached the bonnet. He said about a minute after he and Mr Thomas got the driver out of the car – the whole ‘car went up in flames.’

He said: "I didn't really have time to think about it. I knew there was a man in there and had to get him out.

"I was shook up afterwards - I couldn't go to work I was that shook up. I did what any normal person would have done.

"It all happened very quickly."

Four fire crews from Brynmawr, Ebbw Vale and Abertillery attended the scene along the A467 near the Westside Roundabout around 4.30am. A Gwent Police spokeswoman said the 24-year-old man from Abertillery, the driver of the golf, is currently in Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny.

She said his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Mr Thomas' partner of five years, Ms Steed, said she is 'very proud of him.'

The father-of-four said: "I don't feel like a hero - not at all. I would hope someone would do the same for my child.

“He is somebody's son and grandson at the end of the day. Fingers crossed he's okay."