Paramedics in Oxford have praised passers-by who helped lift a car off a woman who had become trapped underneath it as she cycled through the city centre at Thursday lunchtime.

The incident, captured on video from the adjacent Java & Co café by Mehmet Yildirim, happened shortly after noon on New Inn Hall Street.

He told the Oxford Mail: “It was like a big earthquake – it was a terrible shake.

“I put my head out of the window and saw the women lying there, next to her bike.

“Some people lifted the car off her before the ambulance and police turned up."

– Passers-by lift car off stricken London cyclist

South Central Ambulance Service spokeswoman Michelle Archer said: "We would like to thank those members of the public who came out of local premises and were in the street at the time of a collision in Oxford this afternoon.

"Their quick actions to rescue a lady who had become trapped underneath a car meant that as soon as our paramedic arrived on scene they could start that vital immediate treatment."

The cyclist was taken to the city’s John Radcliffe Hospital with serious leg injuries.

What is unclear is how the car came to be on New Inn Hall Street, just off the busy George Street, in the first place, and where traffic restrictions during the daytime mean it is barred to through traffic.

The position of the car suggests that the driver may have been trying to execute a three-point turn at the point when he or she collided with the cyclist. The impact was enough to shatter the café’s window.

Just last weekend, 15 people lifted a car off a rider taking part in the Wiggle Cotswolds Sportive after he was trapped beneath it.

– Crowd lifts Audi off critically injured Wiggle sportive rider at weekend

And in May, dozens of people in Walthamstow, north east London, lifted a bus off a unicyclist after he was run over.

– Passers-by free unicyclist from underneath bus following collision in Walthamstow