Rescuer tells of river drama
Brave rescuers saved the life of a driver whose car plunged into the River Avon in Bath yesterday afternoon.
The pensioner, who has not been named, is thought to have put his foot on the accelerator by mistake, causing him to crash through a wall at his home at St Swithin’s Yard, off Walcot Street, into the river.
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The car was quickly swept along by the current, with the motorist appearing shocked and unable to free himself.
But thanks to the efforts of three neighbours, the man who is believed to be in his 70s, was rescued as his car nosedived into the water, with the vehicle almost totally submerged.
He was later treated in hospital for hypothermia before being released.
The drama began when residents in neighbouring Chatham Row heard a loud bang.
Dena Moore, 43, had been cleaning her windows when she saw the car in the river.
She called her husband Dan, 42, who immediately launched their boat in a bid to help.
"We heard an almighty crash and then my wife came running down and said a car was floating down the river,” said Mr Moore, a technician at Prior Park College.
“I went out on to the river bank and saw the car and two guys running along the bank after it towards me.
“ I said ‘Is there someone in there?’ and they said ‘Yes.’
“We got the boat into the water and the car was floating quite fast down river, it had cleared the bank completely and was in the middle of the river.
“The two guys, one I believe was called Adrian and is the gentleman’s neighbour, got in the river and swam out after the car.
"I jumped out of my boat and we managed to pull the car down to the bank but because of the pressure on the doors we couldn’t get them open.”
As the driver remained trapped inside with the airbag inflated, the car quickly pitched face down into the cold water.
“We couldn’t open the door, we had to wait for it to submerge, which it started to do very quickly and the whole thing went right under," said Mr Moore.
“Adrian shouted to the guy to take a deep breath and he dived down and managed to open the door and release the seatbelt first time and get him to the surface.
“We got him to the bank and he was obviously very cold and very shaken up and he said his legs weren’t working very well at the time.
“The good thing was getting him out of the very deep water in the middle of the river.
“Thinking about it now, it was very shocking. The moment when the car pitched face forward, I realised this guy was going completely underwater, it was quite frightening.
“But all credit must go to this gentleman Adrian who did the actual rescue.”
Mrs Moore said the whole incident had been frightening.
She said: “It was pretty horrible when it sunk down.
“I had called the police but they never would have made it in time, if it hadn’t been for the three men who pulled him out of the water he would have died.”
The incident happened just after midday and the man was treated at the Royal United Hospital for hypothermia.
Great Western Ambulance Service paramedic Andy Richardson said two of the rescuers had also been treated for minor cuts and hypothermia at the scene.
"The icy cold water causes the body temperature to drop very quickly so it doesn't take long to become hypothermic," he said.
Two ambulances, two rapid response vehicles and an ambulance officer were sent to the scene.
32 Comments
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by Paul Wiltshire, Deputy editor
Wednesday, March 17 2010, 6:33AM
“I think we've all said what needs to be said here - and Bubba has said what didn't need to be said. This thread is now locked.”
by Dave, Larkhall
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 7:55PM
“How many people have to tell you Bubba? For pities sake show a little respect for an elderly citizen, and a couple of ordinary guys who almost lost their lives forty odd hours ago.
Paul, will you please lock or remove this thread?”
by Tom Trosborg, Bath
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 7:19PM
“Bubba, please stop. Write a letter to The Chronicle instead, and then a debate can ensue.”
by Bubba, Bath
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 5:39PM
“Prejudices and generalisations you say Jane and Paul deputy Editor.
Taken from Gov website,
Older drivers
In 2005 there were 218 drivers aged over 60 years who were fatally injured. In addition, there were 118 passenger
deaths in this age group, which represents about 21% of all car passenger deaths.
Older drivers have relatively few accidents but those fatal accidents that they were
involved in tended to involve misjudgement and perceptual errors in ¿right of way¿
collisions, typically in the daytime on rural rather than urban roads. Right turns
onto, and from, the main road are common failures.
Blameworthy right of way errors were, as a proportion of total fatal accidents in that
age group, notably higher for drivers aged over 60 years. This represents about 40%
of fatal accidents involving drivers over 60 years compared with just 6% for those
under 30 years.
And your comment "overall your lack of logic is breathtaking - 'a mother taking her kids to school is inexperienced' indeed. Where do you get this train of thought from" It's a fact again from the GOV website,
In general, women drive about 40% fewer miles than men (4,800 miles per person
as opposed to 7,900 miles per person for males per year).”
by Paul Wiltshire, Deputy editor
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 8:56AM
“Adam (and anyone else): You may have a point but making general, sweeping points out of a potentially tragic incident is unacceptable here. And I'd be saying the same if the driver had been 17 rather than 70.”
by Tom Trosborg, Bath
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 8:44AM
“Adrian from Walcot, I think you and the guy's other rescuers are really brave. You may not have thought you were going to be heroes when you got out of bed when you woke up that morning, but you are!”
by Adam, Bath
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 8:10AM
“These guys were indeed heroes and should be honoured as such! They were indeed extrememly brave.
I take both points of this discussion and I for one find it very interesting.
Maybe it is being judgemental because it was an elderly gentleman who was involved (and very luckily saved)... but I wonder what people's comments would have been if the story involved a teenager instead? I imagine there would be many comments regarding inexperienced driving and irresponsible youth of today. So perhaps some double standards.
But differences of opinions and debates are always healthy and normal... yet the courage shown by the savers is something else - very, very remarkable and they should be rewarded for their extremely brave efforts.”
by Paul Wiltshire, Deputy editor
Tuesday, March 16 2010, 6:54AM
“Puzzled: Thank you. I couldn't have put it better myself (which as someone who has made a living out of writing for 25 years, is a tad frustrating). To Bubba: There's an extraordinarily simple answer to your question about why a story about an accident involving an elderly driver isn't the place to post a comment about the general motoring standards of elderly drivers. And I would have hoped that anyone with a grain of common sense and human feeling would have known it. It's because it's utterly inappropriate.”
by Adrian, Walcot
Monday, March 15 2010, 11:31PM
“When we heard the crash from our apartment we wondered if a building had fallen down, indeed it took us a few moments to see what had happened at the river. Already there were four people by the bank phoning for help.
I recognized the car in the river and immediately ran down to help. The next thing that happened felt surreally like an episode of It's a knockout as Pete and I raced to get undressed and jump into the river.
I followed Pete into the water and we swam after the car which was drifting down stream. We caught up with it at about the same time as Dan arrived in his boat. Tom's grandfather (the man in the car) was conscious and lucid. I've known Tom's grandfather for nine years and so was the one who swam to him to talk to him; he explained that his foot had slipped on the pedals in the car.
We needed to get the car grounded and so swam the car to the bank, hoping to stop it sinking, it was already taking on water and the front of the car was dipping dangerously.
By the time we got the car to the bank the water level had reached the drivers window which was partially open, at this point the water starting flooding in and we had no choice but to attempt to get the door open and the driver out.
As Dan has said, at first the door wouldn't budge and in the space of a few seconds the car filled with water and sank, leaving no choice but to dive down in an attempt to get Tom's grandfather out alive. I was the one at the door so I was the one who had to dive. Fortunately the door came open immediately and on my second attempt I managed to untangle the seat belt and get Tom's grandfather out of the car and to the surface.
Incidentally, it is exactly like it is in the films, even from only four or five feet under you see the light above you as you are surfacing and seeing the person you've rescued taking a gulp of air is an unbelievable thing.
Pete and Dan took over completely at this point and managed to get him to the safety of the bank and with help from the arriving police officers up onto a landing platform where they wrapped him up before taking him to hospital.
Thankfully, after warming up and a good check-over he was released later that day, shaken but otherwise unharmed.
Now, people have talked about heroics and bravery in their comments about what happened on Saturday, but I'm not sure it is either of those things really. For me a hero, someone who is truly brave, is someone who has time to consider the danger they are putting themselves in and then goes ahead and does it anyway. For me the police, the fire service, a lot of the time the ambulance service, these are the brave ones, day in day out they risk their lives and they know they're doing it. (After Saturday I also have an increasing respect for the coast guard!)
When you see a friend who's life is at risk, you don't have time to think about the danger to you, all you see is the danger to them, you react instinctively. I'm sure there is not a person reading this who wouldn't do the same, hopefully for a stranger too.
Oddly I suspect the most dangerous thing Pete and I did was to decide to swim back up the river to our clothes. You don't realise how cold the river is when you are pumped that full of adrenaline, it is only the slowing down and the sluggishness of your muscles that give you the clues, it shouldn't have been any surprise to be told that we were hypothermic when we were checked over by the medics a few minutes later.
There have also been comments about pensioners driving, and concerns about how safe that is. It's a fair point and statistics would back up the view that as people get older their driving becomes less reliable as their faculties decrease. However, as I said earlier, I have know Tom's grandfather for nine years, he is actually in his mid-eighties not seventies, as is his wife, and while you'd almost certainly win a foot race against either of them, if it came to a test of character or ”
by Puzzled, Bath
Monday, March 15 2010, 9:10PM
“I am with the Deputy Editor on this one. Why do people feel when something distressing like this happens and when they don't know any of the details of the case, they have to pile in with comments handing out responsibility for the accident and even suggesting new laws to prevent it happening again? Isn't there a time and a place for everything? Or is this what we now have to live with in our internet culture?”