Daily Mail

So where were the police?

Members of public were at scene before his protection team got there

- By Sam Greenhill, Andy Dolan and Richard Marsden

HORRIFIED motorists who saw Prince Philip’s car ‘somersault­ing’ across the road were the first to help him – before his police protection officers arrived.

The crash left the Duke of Edinburgh trapped in his overturned Land Rover, while the other car in the collision was smoulderin­g and looked ready to explode.

Yet a retired barrister, a salesman and two Indian restaurant workers were among a group who bravely rushed to help.

Yesterday the rescuers revealed how they arrived moments after the smash to find the shellshock­ed royal shaking and bloodied, hanging from his seat and pleading ‘get me out’.

Together, they pulled the duke to safety through the windscreen.

Two police protection officers arrived shortly after, they said. The accident happened around 2.45pm on the edge of the Queen’s Sandringha­m Estate in Norfolk.

The winter sun had been low in the sky as the duke, driving alone, pulled up at a T-junction. With his police protection officers apparently following some distance behind, Philip paused at the give-way sign to the busy A149, where cars on the narrow trunk road can whizz past at up to 60mph. Facing west, with the full glare of the sun shining directly into his face, the 97-year-old duke may have mistimed his exit with dramatic consequenc­es. Possibly dazzled by sunlight, he pulled onto the A-road – likely turning right – unaware of the blue Kia travelling south until it was too late.

According to one eyewitness, the Kia, driven by a 28-year-old mother whose baby was in the back, ‘ Tboned’ the duke’s car – in other words, hit it side-on. There is no suggestion the smaller vehicle was speeding but the impact was enough to send the royal’s two-tonne Freelander screeching across the carriagewa­y, spinning 180 degrees before flipping onto its roof and coming to rest on the driver’s side.

The Kia ended up in a hedge with smoke pouring from the engine.

Last night the full details of the dramatic attempts to rescue the crash victims emerged. Four men in three cars pulled over to help, fearing they would find the occupants of both crashed vehicles dead or seriously injured.

Former barrister Roy Warne said he was driving home when he saw a Land Rover exit the junction before a ‘huge collision’.

‘I saw it careering, tumbling across the A149, somersault­ing across the road,’ he said. ‘It was turning on its side over and over. It was frightenin­g to see a powerful car rolling like that. It would take a massive force [to knock it over].’ The 75-year-old

‘Swerved out of the way’

ran to the smoking Kia, fearing it was about to blow up, and saw a baby boy in the back with two women in the front seats. He said: ‘There was smoke coming out and I thought it might explode. There was a baby in the back seat, screaming. There were two woman in the car and one of them had a broken arm and they were very shaken.

‘One of them was the mother of the child and she was quite upset.

‘My main concern was their car because there was a lot of smoke around it and I thought the tank might go up.’

Both airbags had deployed in the

Kia and the occupants were in a state of shock, with the mother ‘extremely distressed’ as she tried to check on her nine-month-old boy.

Mr Warne, who had been driving home to Thornham, near Hunstanton, with his wife Victoria, 72, got to work with the help of the passenger of another car that had stopped. He said: ‘The passenger in that car actually took the baby in his arms after we freed it from the baby harness. The back windows were down and with the other chap we got the baby out. The mother was obviously very shocked for her child.’

Turning to the upturned Land Rover, Mr Warne said he went to assist the elderly man inside – at that point having no idea who he was. Managing to get his hands under Philip’s arms, he helped ease the duke out backwards through the windscreen. Mr Warne said: ‘There was no seatbelt attached [that I saw].

‘He didn’t seem to be in pain but was obviously very shocked. When his left leg moved, his right leg became free and he was able to turn over. That was the first time I saw his face and that was the first time I realised it was the Duke of Edinburgh.

‘I said something like, “blimey” but it was probably a bit stronger. He was very, very shocked by what had happened. But he was very stoic – he didn’t want a fuss to be made. He’s a very brave man.’ Mr Warne added: ‘I had his blood on my hands. It wasn’t much, and one of the royal people gave me a wipe.’

The rescuers were initially confused by the way the Land Rover had landed on its side.

Mr Warne said: ‘When I got to it, I thought at first that I was pulling at the door. But it was actually the windscreen – I hadn’t realised the car was on its side. The roof was where the window should have been. It was all through 90 degrees.’

The ex-barrister said Philip later took time to check on the crash victims.

‘The duke spoke to my wife and he asked how everyone was, and whether anyone was hurt,’ he said. ‘He seemed relieved. I think he went over to the passengers of the other car, to check that everybody was OK.

‘He was much more concerned about other people than he was about himself. He told my wife he was dazzled by the sun, which was very, very low, it was almost at horizon level and it was very strong. I was wearing sunglasses, and where he was coming from he would have been looking straight into the sun.’

He said the duke’s police protection officers ‘were very calm and profession­al, and comforted people at the scene’, adding: ‘It was just a horrendous crash. I thought the injuries would be extremely serious and it’s lucky nobody was killed.’

An Indian restaurant owner and his colleague also waded in to help after their car was almost hit by Philip’s careering 4x4. Swerving at the last minute, quick-thinking Najarool Islam managed to avoid another potential collision.

‘Obviously very shocked’

When the 47-year-old approached the stricken Land Rover, he saw the distressed duke hanging from his seat and calling out that his legs were trapped.

Mr Islam’s colleague Jalshad Ali, 56, said: ‘I could see the Land Rover rolling. I was worried we were going to hit them. My colleague managed to swerve out of the way on to the other side of the carriagewa­y and we stopped just beyond the wreckage.

‘I’ve never seen anything like it before and was worried people would be seriously hurt. We stopped and I called police straight away. I believe I was the first person to do so.’

Mr Ali, whose 29-year- old son Arjed died in a head-on car crash near Peterborou­gh in 2015, said: ‘The man was inside, hanging from his seat. He was saying, “my leg is trapped”.

‘The younger lady, who was driving the Kia, was shocked and shaking. She was clearly distressed. Another man who had stopped was holding the baby which he had put in a blanket. The older woman in the car was on her phone.’

Salesman Glenn Watson, who arrived a minute after the crash in another car, said: ‘We tried to break the windscreen and managed to remove half of it, but then we realised [the duke’s] legs were trapped under the steering wheel. Two police protection officers arrived just after me and between the four of us we then managed to pull Philip out of the sunroof.

‘He was active, and had been trying to free himself but he couldn’t free his leg at first. But between pulling him and reaching his legs, we managed to get him out.’ The 58-year- old, from Norwich, added: ‘I didn’t realise who he was at first. After we got him out, Roy [Warne] said to me, “do you know who that is? It’s the Duke of Edinburgh”.

‘He’s a tough old bird, but not as tall as he appears on television. He’s actually rather tiny.’

Mr Watson said after the four men had extracted the prince from the car, his protection officers started ‘shouting code words into their radios’, before more marked and unmarked police cars arrived.

 ??  ?? First on scene: Driver Najarool Islam, left, and colleague Jalshad Ali had to swerve to avoid the crash
First on scene: Driver Najarool Islam, left, and colleague Jalshad Ali had to swerve to avoid the crash
 ??  ?? The Mail’s front page yesterday HOW DID HE WALK AWAY?
The Mail’s front page yesterday HOW DID HE WALK AWAY?
 ??  ?? No seatbelt on a public road, Queen at wheel yesterday
No seatbelt on a public road, Queen at wheel yesterday
 ??  ?? Despite Philip’s crash, the Queen drove her Range Rover yesterday – and, as is her custom, was not wearing a seatbelt. The 92-year-old, who was on a public road in Sandringha­m, learned to drive with the Army in 1945 and doesn’t need a licence.
Despite Philip’s crash, the Queen drove her Range Rover yesterday – and, as is her custom, was not wearing a seatbelt. The 92-year-old, who was on a public road in Sandringha­m, learned to drive with the Army in 1945 and doesn’t need a licence.

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