Crash victim’s high five for air ambulance crew

TELEVISION: Fife man thanks flying medics personally in new documentary

A Fife man who had to be cut from his wrecked car after a crash has thanked the emergency service crew who saved his life.

Glenrothes couple John and Marjory Stark were seriously injured in a head-on collision with a van in Northumberland.

Marjory escaped the debris with only a broken foot but John had to be cut free and airlifted 50 miles to hospital.

Now the couple have visited the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) to thank the team who saved John’s life in August 2018.

The reunion will be featured in a documentary about helicopter medics to be aired on TV this weekend.

John, 65, said: “I remember Mike Davison, the GNAAS doctor, going to give me ketamine to get me out of the car.

“When they got me out I remember being on the road, getting more ketamine to straighten my leg and then being taken to the air ambulance.

“It has been brilliant coming here, meeting the crew.

“We’re so grateful for them, they did a fantastic job at the roadside, and kept me relatively pain free. I think Marjory and I could never thank them enough for what they did.

“I’d like to thank the pilots, paramedics, doctors, the ground crew, volunteers and fundraisers for keeping this superb operation in the air. I’m just so grateful.”

The crash happened on the A1, near Wooler, on August 30 2018 when the Starks were travelling to a wedding in North Yorkshire.

Daniel Carmichael from Blairgowrie was driving the van when he fell asleep at the wheel, drifting into the southbound carriageway and smashing into the car driven by John who was trapped for more than an hour with a double fracture to his right femur and three fractures to his pelvis.

He was airlifted to hospital in Newcastle, where he had an eight-hour operation to put a pin in his leg.

During a court case last year, Carmichael admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was given a 12-month custodial sentence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.

He was also banned from driving for three years but John said the punishment was not harsh enough.

Speaking after sentencing, he said: “He got off really lightly.

“He doesn’t know how close he came to killing us.”

The documentary, Emergency Helicopter Medics, will show the Starks meeting the GNAAS crew at their base at Teesside International Airport.

It airs on More4 at 9pm on Sunday.

John Stark and his wife Marjory thank crew members from the Great North Air Ambulance Service on the documentary.

The couple’s car after John was cut free.