FIREMEN from Haslemere were called to help upright a car when it was overturned on black ice near Prestwick Farm on Prestwick Lane in Chiddingfold on Tuesday morning.

Police and an ambulance were called to the scene at around 7am, but the woman driver, the only person in the Fiat 500, escaped without serious injury.

Firemen from Haslemere and Godalming were also called to an earlier accident in Grayswood Road at 4am, also thought to have been caused by ice.

It followed a series of black ice incidents across Surrey and Hampshire at the end of last week and over the weekend when more 50 accidents on the counties’ roads were reported.

Overnight temperatures were as low as minus-two degrees Centigrade.

Hampshire Police Sergeant Rob Herd said: “You may wake up early in the morning and it’s not icy, but sometimes the ice can suddenly come in around 7am, or 8am.

“So it starts off not being frozen and then the temperature suddenly drops during the early rush hour and that catches people out.

“We see a spike in accidents whenever there is a cold snap.”