A
rescue-training boss braved the threat of an explosion
to save a man trapped in his car crushed under a lorry.
Quick
thinking Terry Hayes 45 of First Intervention Training
Ltd, rushed to help when the Peugeot van traveling
in front of him collided with a 16 Tonne Lorry.
He
said the bonnet of the van was under the lorry and
the windscreen was smashed. When I got to the van
the driver was banging on the window trying to get
out because there was smoke and fumes coming from
under the bonnet and his door was jammed.
I managed to force open the door and reach in to calm
him down and undo his seatbelt. He was trying to get
out with his seatbelt still on which many people involved
in car accidents do.
All he was bothered about was his false teeth, which
were on the floor.
Terry managed to pull the stricken driver from the
crash vehicle helped by another good Samaritan, then
dashed back to his own car for his first aid box and
fire extinguisher to douse the smoking engine.
He said if the car had caught fire with the man inside
it, it would have been a different story. A fire can
engulf a car in a matter of minutes.
The 59-year-old van driver suffered facial and leg
injuries he was given first aid before the ambulance
arrived to take him to Basildon hospital.
He has since undergone a knee operation and is expected
to be released in a few days.
Terry urged drivers always to carry a first aid kit
and fire extinguisher but appealed to them to learn
how to use them properly.
Terry is the managing director of First Intervention
Training in Stanford Le Hope, which gives Fire, First
Aid, Health, and safety training.
The former Essex fire service officer worked in Southend
and Leigh before joining Shell UK Emergency Team for
12 years where he taught emergency skills as far away
as Kenya.
Two years ago Terry and the other members of Shells
rescue team were made redundant due to the closure
of the Shell Haven Refinery. First Intervention was
formed in a building leashed from shell.
Terry was returning home from work yesterday when
the accident happened.