A fire team performed a car crash cut-out exercise at a Winchester college to highlight the dangers of texting and driving.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue visited Peter Symonds College to perform a simulated car crash cut-out in front of students.

The exercise aimed to demonstrate what is involved in extracting someone trapped in a crashed vehicle and formed part of a college campaign highlighting the dangers of texting behind the wheel.

Leading the exercise was watch manager Sean Gray, who along with his crew demonstrated the full process of cutting free car crash victims.

Students James Field, Oscar Cristofoli, Kyle Monkcom and Romi Haywood-Mann bravely volunteered to play the passengers and sit in the car whilst the fire crew cut them free using hydraulic cutting equipment.

The crew worked for 30 minutes helping release and treat the mock casualties using typical tools and techniques utilized in real life car crash incidents.

As well as encouraging students to adopt a responsible attitude towards driving, the exercise also provided valuable practice for the fire crew who can attend up to 10 of these incidents in a month.

Watch manager Sean Gray said: “ I hope this exercise highlighted the potential devastating effect a road crash can have on the occupants, members of their family and not forgetting the trauma crews will also face."

Road crashes are the biggest killer of teenagers worldwide, with one in five new drivers are involved in a crash in their first year of driving.