Skip firm boss’s son on the mend after bridge truck crash
PASSERS-BY ‘MUCKED IN’ TO HELP KEEP STRICKEN DRIVER’S SPIRITS UP, SAYS GRATEFUL DAD
A DIRECTOR of a skip company whose son was in the lorry that crashed off Lady Bay Bridge has described what happened.
At around 8.50am on Monday, Jimmie Whitehead, 28, who is also a director at Vale Skip Hire in Nottingham, was behind the wheel of a lorry that left the carriageway and crashed down the embankment.
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue said he was freed by emergency services who attended the scene, which also included paramedics and police, and the lorry was eventually righted and recovered after Jimmie was taken to hospital.
He is the only person who was involved in the incident.
Jimmie was taken by ambulance to the Queen’s Medical Centre, even though the air ambulance had been scrambled and was spotted in the sky above by onlookers.
His father, Kevin Whitehead, 65, said his son is recovering well in hospital after suffering a broken arm.
He told the Post: “Jimmie is very lucky to be alive and out of danger now.
“Lorries are repairable, that’s why you have insurance, but lives are not. It was terrible. You just pray for the best and I was just worried about my son.
“He wasn’t far from the River Trent and was trapped inside the lorry, he was panicking at the time too. I know a few people who tried to help before emergency services attended.”
Kevin said Jimmie is continuing to recover in hospital. He was due to have an operation to pin a broken arm yesterday.
“Jimmie was at first on the intensive care unit, was then moved to a high-dependency unit and after his planned operation he should be being moved to a normal ward. He’s getting there,” he said. “I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone that helped during the incident, along with a massive thank you to the emergency services as well. We work in the vicinity and everyone trying to help knew him.
“There was one lad in particular who was brilliant, he was a passerby on his way to work, and they all just mucked in to do what they could and to keep his spirits up.”
Police inquiries into the crash are ongoing, and anyone who saw what happened, or has dashcam footage of the incident, is asked to call 101 quoting incident number 118 of July 4.
I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone that helped during the incident.
Kevin Whitehead