The grieving partner of a man who died in a tragic accident yesterday (Good Friday) has praised the emergency services and her neighbours for doing all they could to try to save him.

Nick Jones, of Sandy Lane, Addington, near Wrotham Heath, was working underneath his beloved Audi S4 car, when the jack collapsed and the vehicle fell on him.

His partner, Keira Hammond, 35, had gone to the gym early that morning, and returned to their home to find Mr Jones trapped underneath the vehicle.

She said: “I yelled for help, and my three neighbours rushed round.

“We used another jack to raise the car again and pull Nick out.

“I gave him CPR to the best of my ability until the ambulance arrived.”

Police, fire and ambulance crews were quickly on the scene, with the air ambulance landing in a field nearby, but Mr Jones has suffered catastrophic injuries and could not be saved.

The 42-year-old worked as a total process safety engineer for food manufactures ADM in Erith. He had a nine-year-old son from a previous relationship.

Miss Hammond, who had lived with Mr Jones in the cottage since September 2013, said: “Nick absolutely loved his car. He was a very experienced mechanic and he was always working on it.

“This weekend he was going to lower the suspension."

“He was a first-aider himself and did a renewal course every two years.

“We often talked about how we would react in a crisis; whether we would know what to do.

“My biggest comfort is that he would have been so proud of me for trying."

Miss Hammond said: "Nick was a very loving partner and father.

"We had just reached a period in our lives where everything was going really well and we were so happy. I loved him so very much."

Miss Hammond is this morning being comforted by her parents, who drove up from Wales as soon as they heard the news. She said: “I’m so grateful to my neighbours and to the 999 crews. Everyone did everything they possibly could.”