Forethought saves man crushed under ute

A man's forethought has saved him from more serious injury after the ute he was working on crushed him.

The man, who lives near Ruapuke, south of Raglan, was working on the vehicle when it slipped off its jack and dropped onto his chest this morning.

But fortunately the 36-year-old had thought ahead and placed support material under the frame which supported most of the vehicle's weight.

Westpac Waikato Air Ambulance pilot Loren Haisley praised the man's foresight after he put a tyre and a couple of stands underneath the running board of the car to catch the weight.

"Had he not done that, the full weight of the front of the vehicle would have crushed him - he would have been dead. He was lucky."

After freeing himself from underneath the car he crawled to his nearby house and phoned emergency services.

"Just after something like that, probably just breathing would have been hard enough and to do -- that (crawl) afterwards is pretty impressive."

Mr Haisley said his air ambulance was in the air in 6 minutes after receiving the call at 8.30am and when arriving at the property, near Ruapuke, the man was being comforted by a Raglan doctor and a neighbour who is also a nurse.

Mr Haisley said the man appeared to have done everything he could to work safely underneath his car, however it was unclear how the jack slipped.

The man was airlifted to Waikato Hospital by the air ambulance.

- © Fairfax NZ News