A policeman who twice was almost killed while on duty in Oxfordshire has retired after 30 years.

Pc Gerry Reed, 48, of the Oxford city centre policing unit, retired last month. Pc Reed said his first near-death experience happened when he was dealing with a road accident near Hopcrofts Holt, on the A423 Kidlington to Banbury road.

He said: "A lorry had spilled diesel all over the road. We were directing traffic and waiting for the council to come out.

"A bread van hadn't realised the diesel was there and skidded and I was forced to dive into a ditch full of stinging nettles to get away."

He said the second time he diced with death was when he found a drunk driver on Park End Street.

He said: "I took the key from the ignition but the engine kept going. He started to go as I tried to stop him."

Pc Reed hung on to the car as it accelerated up to 50 miles an hour, attempted to take the bend on to Castle Street and crashed into the railings.

He was a police cadet at Bicester before he was sworn in as an officer on May 24, 1976. He was posted to Oxford's city centre unit in October that year.

In 1981, he joined the traffic department at Witney, before moving to Woodstock in 1983.

In 1991, he was posted to the Oxfordshire Control Room for two years, as the force was changing the way it worked from paper to computer.