Fire chief’s horror at son’s crash
BY STEPHEN HOUSTON A FIRE chief spreading a road safety message has revealed how his own son nearly died in a motorbike horror.
Jim Scott worked through some of the most challenging conditions to free casualties from wreckages and get them to safety.
But nothing could have prepared him for the news he received that his son was in a coma.
The dad of two from Ayr was told his teenage son, Adam, had sustained life-threatening injuries after crashing his motorbike.
Jim – the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s local senior officer for Ayrshire – said: “The time and date are stamped in my head, October 23, 2015, at 22 minutes past four.
“I remember I was in the office and had just gone back upstairs after area headquarter staff had hosted a charity fundraiser. My first thought was, ‘Is this really Adam – has it really happened to him? He was meant to be at work’.”
While attempting a corner on Shewalton Road between Irvine and Drybridge, Adam’s bike left the road and smashed into a metal pole.
The 17-year-old was placed in an induced coma at Crosshouse Hospital.
Jim, 52, said: “I’ve attended numerous accidents and seen all forms of trauma but to see your own flesh and blood lying there... nothing can prepare you.”
After a month of hell, Adam pulled through. Now 20, he plans to be a fitness coach after graduating from Ayrshire College.