Biker James hands over charity cheque to Scots air ambulance
Motorcyclist James Millar owes his life to an air ambulance helicopter crew.
James was involved in a horrific road traffic collision in August 2015 on the A85 between Lochearnhead and Crianlarich when a driver pulled across his path. He suffered two cardiac arrests at the scene.
Thanks to the air ambulance service, he was taken to hospital by helicopter where he remained for 31 days in either the high dependency unit or intensive care being treated for his injuries.
Last week, he handed over a cheque for £1,000 on behalf of Motorcycle Law Scotland (MLS) to Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) to support all the work it does getting injured motorcyclists to hospital as quickly as possible.
James said: ‘There is what’s called the “golden hour” which is critical to the wellbeing of the victims of road traffic collisions and I know that I would not be around today if it were not for services such as those provided by SCAA.
‘MLS does a lot of fundraising for SCAA and, when I found out, I wanted to hand over the cheque to show my appreciation. I also hope that it acts as a reminder to others of how vital their service is. I’m standing here right now, but it could have been so very different for me.’
Road traffic collisions account for 24 per cent of the SCAA’s helicopter’s workload. To date, the charity has flown to 340 traffic incidents and of these, 114 (35 per cent) involved motorcyclists.
David Craig, chief executive of SCAA added: ‘We are very grateful to MLS and to James for their donation.
‘As a charity which relies 100 per cent on funds from the public, it will contribute to the daily lifesaving work of SCAA. With road traffic collisions representing a high proportion of all our callouts, the support we receive from the motorcycling community is tremendous.’