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When a 24-year-old man got his car stuck in a Cantley snowbank Tuesday night, he came up with an “unorthodox” idea to free it singlehandedly.

Unfortunately for him, it was a terrible idea.

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Alone and unwilling to wait for a tow truck, the man wedged a skateboard on the white compact’s accelerator, then jumped out to push, said MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais spokesman Martin Fournel.

But the car’s doors locked when the gas pedal was pushed down. Then the car caught fire.

“All while not freeing the vehicle from its unfortunate position,” police noted in a release.

According to Fournel, the now-totalled car was in reverse when the engine “busted.”

“I’m not sure if the wheels caught on fire from spinning or if it was just the engine turning too fast and not going anywhere, so long story short … the front end of the car caught on fire,” Fournel said.

Fournel said the man called the police, but the fire was out and the engine was off when officers arrived at the scene.

Fournel said there were no injuries from the car fire and no damage was caused to surrounding businesses in the plaza.

— With files from Naomi Librach