Episode 5 Close Calls: On Camera

A close call, a moment of danger when life can hang in the balance...

I could die here, this is really serious.

..a split second where the outcome could go either way...

Right, call 999 now.

..the difference between disaster and survival.

You could see it on the faces of the crew how life-threatening this was.

Why would you need to swim?

Apparently, they're supposed to still be on a boat.

These are the people that have been there and lived to tell the tale.

I thought she had died.

It's a day they'll never forget -

the day they had a close call.

Today on Close Calls...

a couple's romantic break at a converted fort a mile out at sea

ends in disaster. Julian and Linda are celebrating

their silver wedding anniversary when she suddenly collapses.

I did not know where help was going to come from.

A Coastguard helicopter races to the scene and a lifeboat is launched,

but by the time they arrive, Linda's condition is deteriorating fast.

You could see it on the faces of the rest of the crew

how life-threatening this was.

And a trucker has just seconds to save his own life

as another driver's load hurtles towards him.

Spitbank Fort, a mile off the coast of Portsmouth.

A Coastguard helicopter and a lifeboat are called to the scene

of an accident at the converted sea fort, now a luxury hotel.

A woman celebrating her wedding anniversary has fallen

and suffered a severe head injury.

Her husband is panic-stricken.

I was thinking, if help doesn't come,

this girl is going to bleed to death.

The isolated fort can only be reached by helicopter or boat,

but with the minutes ticking away,

the medics on board both are going to be working against the clock.

Helicopter medic Dave is part of a busy Coastguard team based at Lee-on-Solent.

He's got 40 years on the job.

It's a bank holiday Monday and the whole crew have had an early start,

taking part in a search operation along the south coast.

But they've just received an urgent call to divert to Spitbank Fort Hotel,

a mile out at sea, where a woman has collapsed and has serious injuries.

Dave receives a full briefing en route.

You know there's no medics on there, so you want to get there

to get medical help as your first priority.

Members of the Gosport and Fareham inshore lifeboat service are also scrambled.

Ambulance technician Chris is one of the team who responds.

I was having a lie-in on the bank holiday Monday.

My four-year-old knocked me on the head with my pager going off,

and obviously proceeded down to the lifeboat station.

He's beaten to it by James, who films using a head cam.

I was one of the first to arrive, so it's my job to help get the boat out.

Get ready, get in a suit, make sure that we're on the water

and heading to the emergency as quickly as we can.

Skipper Phil spots the Coastguard team.

Whenever the helicopter's involved in an incident,

to us, it instantly increases the urgency

and the severity of the incident we're going to.

Chris arrives and the team are ready to launch.

We waited for him to board the vessel cos he has a wealth of medical knowledge.

My training includes intrafibrillation, oxygen therapy,

scene management and extrication training that are above and beyond

obviously a normal first aider, which our crews are.

-RADIO:

-'Solent Coastguard, Gosport lifeboat...'

As they get closer to the fort, they can see the Coastguard helicopter hovering above.

Last time they did this, it was an exercise.

Today that could pay off.

We all know what each other do

and so that saves critical time - minutes and seconds.

While they power across the water,

winchman Dave has already been lowered onto the fort

from the helicopter and reached the female victim.

I was pretty certain that she'd suffered a significant head injury.

I also noticed that there was blood, what appeared to be clear fluid,

coming out of her left ear.

Now, that clear fluid is cerebral spinal fluid, OK?

So again, you know you're dealing with a fractured skull.

He knows he'll need help

and it arrives within minutes.

The lifeboat crew scramble up the ladder, with James still filming.

This is his footage.

Lying barely conscious on the stone floor of a corridor

on one of the fort's upper decks is Linda.

Dave kneels at her side.

Nearby, her husband Julian waits anxiously,

along with members of the hotel staff.

She didn't fall unconscious at any point.

So she shouted as soon as she hit the ground, did she?

Yes, she did. She was responsive throughout the whole time.

All right. OK. All right, Linda, what I want you to do for me...

I knew we were dealing with a serious situation.

You could see it on the faces of the rest of the crew

how life-threatening this was.

The trip to the fort had all started so differently

for devoted Southsea couple Julian and Linda,

who've been together for 31 years.

We've been married 25 years, but we've known each other for 31.

Linda, she is a gregarious person and she means everything to me.

I can't believe that 31 years has passed.

With their silver wedding anniversary approaching,

Linda arranges a special night away.

Her chosen hotel is only a few miles from their home -

nautical miles, that is.

I heard about Spitbank Fort through a colleague at work.

It's been modernised and converted into a leisure site.

I thought that sounded ideal.

She had booked a night,

which was reassuringly expensive.

We don't normally stay in luxury hotels and this was

a good opportunity to spend some money and lavish it upon ourselves.

The couple are excited as they set off on a bright August day

to celebrate at sea.

The boat got us out from Gunwharf to the fort in about ten minutes.

It's a lovely place to have some time together

and look out at the place that you've lived all your life

from a different angle.

We were given a champagne reception and then they just take you round

the fort. We had our lunch and then after that, we...

..went and made cocktails in the bar at the top.

Went and chilled out in the hot tub under the light of the stars.

It's proving a magical experience for them both,

but it's going to be short-lived.

The following morning,

we went off to breakfast at 8:30,

I felt unwell and excused myself.

I didn't think there was much to worry about.

Sometimes you don't feel great.

It was quite early.

I hadn't got very far actually, just out of the dining room

onto the concrete flooring, and...

..I fell.

And apparently I screamed, and that must have alerted the staff.

As she falls, her head hits the stone floor.

And that's pretty much where Linda's memory of their special night on the fort ends.

But for Julian, every last second of what follows

is etched in his mind forever.

As one of the staff tends to Linda, another rushes to fetch him.

I went over by her side and...

..tried to do what I could to...

..reassure her.

She wanted to be sick.

And she was laying on her side and she was bleeding heavily from her ear.

Julian is gripped with fear.

They're on a fort a mile off the coast, surrounded by water,

with only the staff and other visitors.

I did not know where help was going to come from.

We were out in the middle of the Solent...

..she needed help, I didn't know where it was going to come from.

I remember panicking about that.

Rescue workers discover Linda's injuries are very serious.

And it's a race against time to get her off the fort.

I was concerned for her. Very, very concerned.

Our biggest fear that Linda would lose consciousness

and ultimately, further down the line,

she could eventually die from that serious head injury.

Falling ill out at sea must be a pretty frightening experience,

but at least we know there are volunteers out there ready to help.

But now back to dry land, where a fast reaction time,

literally a split second, can make all the difference.

Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

An HGV driver approaches a roundabout on a busy main road.

His dash cam is recording the journey.

Less than 50 metres from the junction,

he sees a builder's truck laden with scaffolding

heading towards him from the opposite direction.

As it begins to pull level, he has two seconds to save his life.

All I knew is I had to duck.

David Monaghan is a professional driver.

These days he's mostly behind the wheel of his car,

but for more than 30 years, he's driven enormous HGVs,

transporting food around the country.

What I like about HGV driver, I'm more-or-less my own boss.

I've got nobody looking over my shoulder,

telling me what I can and cannot do.

I drive the road, the road tells me what I can and cannot do.

David lives with his wife Barbara in Eccles, Greater Manchester.

They have four children, eight grandchildren

and two great-grandchildren.

He loves driving, he's done it for quite a number of years now,

so it's his passion.

There's nobody there to mither him so he can just get on

with doing what he enjoys most.

When he isn't behind the wheel, David's very much the family man.

Everybody would say their dad's the best dad they could ever have,

but in my terms, he really is.

Anybody needs help, even outside the family,

they'll always come to my dad.

Although he loves his job, David admits it has its stresses.

You have to have good reactions to be a driver, because

in a fully loaded articulated vehicle, it's 44 tonne.

It's not a car. Can't stop like a car.

So we have to be aware of what's coming up beside of you,

what's in front of you, what's further up the road

and what you're carrying.

When he's on the road, the family can't help worrying about him,

particularly when they see some of the footage

his dash cam has captured.

It does scare you because you hear of wagons coming off bridges,

getting blown over, other wagons falling asleep

and crossing central reservations.

-You hear it all the time.

-I've worried about him for years.

My worst fear is someone knocking on the door and saying

there's been a bad accident. That is my worst fear.

As soon as he walks through that door, I can,

you know, sigh of relief.

He's home yet again.

During his 30 years crisscrossing the country,

David's had his own occasional near misses with other drivers.

That's why he's installed a front-facing dash cam.

Numerous people have clipped me...

..and I have to prove my innocence.

I thought if I've got a dash cam, I don't have to prove anything.

The videos show it all.

In the early hours, one cold January morning,

David sets off from his Manchester depot

with a truck full of deliveries.

I drove all the way down to Shrewsbury...

..done three drops, just coming up to the roundabout,

bin wagon in front of me.

Turn left, he got away,

then the transit van came off the roundabout with his indicator on.

Just looked at him.

The van is a builder's pick-up, carrying a scaffolding platform.

It exits the roundabout and heads up the road towards him.

But the platform isn't fully secure.

A split second later, it starts to slide.

I knew I was going to get hit.

Where I was going to get hit, didn't have a clue.

Whether it would land on the floor and hit the engine,

didn't have a clue. All I knew is, I had to duck.

In one dramatic moment,

David lowers his head and body behind the wheel and dives down

towards the footwell. As he does,

the metal scaffolding platform, weighing 200 kilos,

crashes through his windscreen.

The speed he was going, the speed I was going,

total impact 50-plus miles per hour.

It's like putting a spear into butter.

It just goes straight through it.

The clock on the dash cam records less than two seconds between

the huge load sliding towards him and smashing through the cab.

I just heard the glass shatter.

Didn't see nothing. Didn't know nothing.

How was I able to react to it quickly?

I haven't got a clue.

It was instantaneous.

Didn't think about it.

The scaffolding platform passes over David's head

and comes to rest in the driver's position,

at head height.

Somehow, David brings the truck to a stop.

He's stunned into silence.

Only the sound of the vehicle's fan can be heard.

Outside, other motorists who witnessed the accident are frozen in horror.

It takes 41 seconds before one reaches him.

I'm all right.

Get an ambulance.

He opened the door. He asked me, am I all right?

I couldn't say nothing cos I was covered in glass.

Then I heard him say, "Do you want to me to turn the engine off?"

And that's when I realised I still had my foot on the clutch.

And my foot on the brake.

David's reflex action has stopped the truck careering through the roundabout.

The next driver to get to David is an off-duty paramedic.

I was just showered in glass, blood on my face.

The scaffolding platform was over the top of my head.

I couldn't get up. I was told to stay where I was.

An ambulance crew arrive and help David out of his wrecked cab.

As I was climbing down, that's when I knew I'd hurt my back and my neck.

They fear he has whiplash from the impact and the speed he had to move to avoid it.

Later, David sends son Michael some photographs of his lorry.

I was laughing at it at first.

I thought, he's gone to work and somebody's smashed the wagon up.

Then he texts back, "I just ducked."

So obviously when I got that I thought, this is...

I just went white and went dead cold and it just freaked me out.

Michael phones his dad straightaway,

who instructs him not to tell his mum.

Instead, Michael rushes over to see his sister, Joanne,

who lives across the street.

He showed me the pictures of me dad's wagon and I was like,

"Whoa, that's close, how's the driver?"

And that's when my brother turned round and said it's me dad.

And I was just... I was just in shock.

And she just stood there and she just went...

"Nearly lost me dad."

And we both just stood there and stared at each other for a few minutes.

Back at the scene, David's truck is towed away

and after the ambulance crew treat his cuts and grazes,

a colleague collects him and takes him home.

He just showed me the photographs, he didn't say anything,

just said he nearly wasn't home, and they were horrendous.

Just couldn't believe that something like that had happened.

He showed me the video and that was even worse.

I was crying and he didn't really speak much.

But later, the shock registers.

I think it was about ten o'clock that night

that he started feeling emotional

and I think that's when it really set in, that what's just happened.

You know, "I shouldn't be here now."

David's close call has had a lasting effect.

He's suffering from post-traumatic stress

and currently isn't able to drive commercial vehicles.

I do still watch the dash cam video now and again.

Just to remind myself just how close I did come...

..to being killed.

Like you say...

..two seconds from death.

At an isolated hotel based on a fort in the middle of the Solent,

wedding anniversary celebrations for mum-of-two Linda ended suddenly

when she collapsed and hit her head.

A Coastguard helicopter and a lifeboat have responded to the emergency.

The lifeboat crew have just arrived at the scene

to discover Linda's condition is grave.

They've linked up with helicopter winchman paramedic Dave

from the Coastguard, who's seriously concerned.

Hotel staff have told him what happened.

She'd suddenly gone rigid when she was stood

and went straight back like an ironing board,

and banged her head, and the ground that she banged her head on

was solid granite.

I was pretty certain that she'd suffered a significant head injury.

I also noticed that there was blood and what appeared to be clear fluid

coming out of her left ear.

Now, that clear fluid is cerebral spinal fluid, OK?

So again, you know you're dealing with a fractured skull.

Dave's also concerned Linda may have damaged her spine.

So you don't want to move that patient initially at all really.

The lifeboat team, working alongside Dave, film, using a helmet camera.

She was just being tended to by the paramedic from the helicopter.

There was a lot of noise, a lot of commotion.

They were obviously glad to see us and Linda was in a very upset state

with an obvious head injury.

As she went back, was she unconscious?

Her husband Julian, circled here, is glad to see them.

One of them went round and collected information from the witnesses and myself.

Paramedic winchman Dave and lifeboat medic Chris

liaise about what's needed.

This lady was going to have a C-spine collar put on.

Stay with me, Linda.

'We were going to stretcher her off and get her evacuated as quickly as possible.'

But they're worried about further complications.

Our biggest fear that Linda would lose consciousness and ultimately,

further down the line, she could eventually die from that serious head injury.

Can you open your eyes for me?

We were allocated obviously different roles,

who would take charge of the head,

who would take charge of personal possessions,

who would take charge of Linda's husband.

He was very, very worried.

We just had to try and speak to him and get any information from him,

and try and calm him as well.

-Help me.

-We're going to help you, Linda.

-Help me.

While the paramedics and crew get to work, Julian feels helpless.

Help me.

When someone you know and love is distressed like that

and they're calling out for help, you want to help them,

and you're trying to think of more things that you could do to help.

OK, go.

I now knew that she was being treated by a team

that's going to make things all right.

So from that point of view, I was calm, but I... Inside, I was...

I was shaking.

If you can get the husband just to even just hold their hand,

it occupies his mind. If he talks to his wife, they can...

they can hear it and it obviously gives the casualty

a bit of comfort as well.

Working as quickly as they can,

Dave and the team secure Linda on the stretcher.

But soon they need to climb up the fort's steep metal ladders

and slippery stone stairways to reach the upper deck

and call the helicopter back in.

Those are the stairs we're going up.

The top stairs, they slope, the metal ones.

Sorry, the concrete ones, they're a little bit smoother

cos they've worn away. OK, watch your footing.

All right, darling?

We are just going to wrap you up nice and warm, OK?

Once we'd packaged Linda up into the rescue stretcher for the helicopter,

my job was then to coordinate our team,

how we were going to get her safely up,

coordinate with them to...safety lines.

And you're just going to go up ahead of us, so if something goes

-wrong, you can just sit down and just hold until we readjust.

-Yes.

But even if they make it up the steps,

they face another challenge at the top.

We needed to use a high line for this extrication, because it's very

dangerous to have the helicopter close to the Victorian fort.

So what we do is we winch them off and then guide the winchman

so he doesn't go into a spin because of the downdraught

hitting the water at the side of the fort.

The team's experience shows, as they carefully carry Linda up the steps

with the deafening noise of the helicopter overhead.

Once we got there, we had to ensure a clear, safe area,

make sure the rope wasn't going to get tangled.

Everyone's aware time is running short.

They must get Linda on board the helicopter and to a hospital

or she won't survive.

She had deteriorated quite a bit. She'd gone very quiet.

She had a very vice-like grip on her hand.

We knew that she was getting worse at that point.

She started getting a lot of bruising around her eyes.

Again, that's a sign that she has got a fractured skull

and there's some bleeding going on there.

So I was concerned for her. Very, very concerned.

If I was to be truthful and a betting man,

I wasn't 100% that she was going to survive.

Dave clips on and within seconds, he and Linda are airborne,

dangling over the waters of the Solent,

as the heli crew haul them in.

It was a matter of seconds really.

Once Dave had clipped on, away they went.

I felt sad that I was now no longer by her side.

It was then a case of just

hoping and praying that everything would be all right.

The helicopter rushes Linda to a waiting trauma team

in nearby Portsmouth, leaving Julian feeling bereft.

Everything was quiet.

Clearly, the...

noise of the helicopter was quite deafening.

An eerie silence came.

Lifeboat medic Chris takes charge.

You want to kind of keep your spirits up.

We all hope for the best, but we do know obviously the outcome

sometimes can be quite bad and tragic.

Julian collects their things and the lifeboat crew take him ashore

and on to Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital.

Within an hour, he's back at Linda's side.

Chris volunteers to stay with him.

I explained to the doctors obviously who I was,

so obviously family members need to be with Julian at the time,

but I was waiting there till someone could come and relieve me from his family.

I stayed with him for about an hour and just provided reassurance

and someone to chat to through this difficult time.

Because of the seriousness of her injuries,

Linda is moved to Southampton Hospital, a major trauma centre,

where doctors tell Julian they need to operate straightaway

to remove blood clots.

The operation goes well and four hours later,

Julian is able to be at his wife's side again.

After awhile, I was allowed to go and see Linda and she was able

to squeeze my hand when I called her name,

and that was brilliant.

I felt... I felt a lot better.

But it's three days before Linda fully regains consciousness,

although she has little memory of what's happened.

Julian and their daughters are at her bedside.

I was so pleased.

I was pleased to see everybody and I don't really think at that time

I understood how serious the injury was.

In one of my follow-up appointments,

the head injury specialist nurse spoke to us for quite a while

and I did say to her, "So in the scale of seriousness of injuries,

"this was quite a minor injury, was it?" And she said, "Absolutely not.

"This was a spectacularly bad injury."

We were told that people that get that sort of injury can die

if not seen really quickly.

The speed of recovery, I'm convinced, is associated

with the speed at which she was seen by the hospital staff.

Linda makes a remarkable recovery,

leaving hospital after just ten days.

But she's been left with some problems,

including hearing difficulties and the loss of smell and taste.

I can still hear,

out of my left ear,

but that might deteriorate as I get older.

My sense of smell and taste may or may not come back.

Those are a small price to pay for...

..the fact that I'm still alive.

I think Linda was incredibly lucky on that day.

She had some fantastic support from an independent lifeboat station like ourselves.

The fact that the helicopter was flying up and ready

and could get there as quickly as possible,

and that she had some brilliant people on the crew here

who had the life-saving training that she needed.

Seconds really did count that day.

That's where it happened.

Right there and thank goodness there was a happy ending.

See you next time on Close Calls.