February 14, 2005
Burnham cabbies rescue ‘hit and run’ victim
Two Burnham-On-Sea taxi drivers and their passengers came to the rescue of a man left injured in the middle of the busy A38 after an apparent hit and run accident.
Alan Miller from Custom Cars and Brian Wood from M Taxis were driving passengers back to Burnham from Bridgwater at 2.15am on Sunday when they came across the victim lying in the middle of the A38 near the ADT Car Auction centre on the outskirts of Bridgwater.
The victim said he’d been knocked off his push bike by a vehicle and was unable to move.
The drivers and passengers therefore worked together to give first aid, call the emergency services, and cordon off part of the busy road.
Alan told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “It was a real emotional roller-coaster. On the one hand we were thinking how sickening it was that a human being could just leave someone else in the middle of the road like that – and on the other hand it was great how everyone pulled together to help this poor man.”
He added: “It was a real group effort. One of my passengers helped by giving his jacket to the man to keep him warm and then rang the emergency services for help, while another passenger stopped the traffic.
“Brian from M Taxis was fantastic – he got a blanket for the man from his taxi and flagged down fast moving cars to keep us safe.
“We where really lucky that a group of off-duty policeman from Burnham just happened to come by. They jumped out and quickly took control – they were a real credit to Burnham’s police force.”
A paramedic was on the scene within minutes, followed by an ambulance and police from Bridgwater. The man was put in a neck collar and placed on a spinal board before being put into the ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital.
