Hero lorry driver’s superhuman bid to rescue man in car
HE SMASHED THE WINDOW WITH HIS FIST TO FREE DRIVER
A LORRY driver has been hailed as a “true hero” after putting his life on the line in a bid to save a motorist from being burned to death in the wreck of his car.
Robert Kirk, 48, smashed a car window with his fist before bending a buckled door with ‘”brute force” to get to a trapped pensioner and pull him free.
Mr Kirk, who is also a Regimental Sgt Major Instructor with the Army Cadet Force at Driffield, has now been awarded one of the country’s top bravery honours for his fight to save the 81-year-old car driver.
The accident happened on the morning of January 19, this year at Werrington in Staffordshire.
Retired bus driver Bernard Hopwood, 81, had been driving but appeared not to notice a tractor that had pulled up in the road with mechanical problems.
Mr Hopwood’s Ford Focus ploughed straight into the tractor’s trailer without appearing to break.
Mr Kirk was driving behind Mr Hopwood in his HGV and saw what had happened.
He realised that the driver had to be freed from the car at once to save him from the flames.
Ignoring the obvious danger to himself from the flames, and the possibility there could be an explosion he went to the car, smashed the driver’s window with his fist and then managed to bend back the damaged door sufficiently to pull the driver free before the fire could spread to him.
He then administered first aid on the spot until paramedics arrived and took over.
Sadly, despite all their efforts Mr Hopwood, 81, had been critically injured and died at the scene of the crash.
Now, though, in recognition of his bravery in his fight to save the man, Mr Kirk has been awarded a Royal Humane Society Testimonial on Parchment.
He also won the personal praise of Andrew Chapman, secretary.
Mr Chapman said: “He ignored the danger to himself to go and try and rescue the driver from the wreck.
“It was an incredibly dangerous situation.
“There is always the very real danger of an explosion when there is a fire after a car crash but he went in and using brute force managed to get the driver out.
“Sadly the driver did not survive by without doubt Mr Kirk was a true hero and richly deserves the award he is to receive.”
The roots of the Royal Humane Society stretch back more than two centuries.
The Queen is its patron and its president is Princess Alexandra.
It is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life. It was founded in 1774 by two of the day’s eminent medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan.
Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation.
However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved.
The Society also awards non health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation.
Since it was set up the Society has considered over 87,000 cases and made over 200,000 awards.
The Society is a registered charity which receives no public funding and is dependent on voluntary donations.
It was one of a select number of organisations to receive a donation from the Patron’s fund, which was set up to acknowledge work done by organisations of which the Queen is the patron, to mark her 90th birthday.