Episode 11 Real Rescues

Today on Real Rescues,

an urgent case for the Magpas emergency medical team.

WOMAN SCREAMS IN PAIN

A woman can't wait for hospital treatment.

The doctor has to fix her dislocated knee now.

If it's the kneecap that's out,

because it feels quite bony on this side,

that's where it tends to go,

and we can pop it back in. That might help. OK?

A 999 call from a dad whose wife is about to give birth.

The baby arrives, but there's no crying.

In my mind, at the back of my mind, I'm thinking that

the longer she's blue and not breathing, the more trouble we're in.

And after an encounter with a wheelie bin,

Robert fears for the worst.

I had visions of my whole head being split open.

Hello and welcome to Real Rescues

and the world of the emergency services.

The people here take calls about all kinds of accidents -

the ordinary, the extraordinary and sometimes the unimaginable.

We're about to see a painful injury, so bad that the ambulance crew

has to call in more senior help en route to hospital.

An emergency medical team from the Magpas charity

on duty in Cambridge is heading to a woman in agonising pain.

Dr Simon Lewis and paramedic Dan Read

are trained in pre-hospital trauma.

They can perform clinical procedures at the roadside.

So we've been asked to assist an ambulance crew.

They've got a lady on board their ambulance already who has,

they believe, dislocated her knee and the painkiller that they're

able to give her isn't enough, so they've asked for our help

to see if we can provide a bit more painkiller or help with her knee.

The rendezvous is at a garage on an A road.

Moments after they pull in, the ambulance arrives.

The team is quickly brought up to date.

She landed really badly on her knee, just twisted it.

Inside the ambulance, their patient, a 38-year-old woman,

has suffered a freak accident in her living room.

The crew has given her all the pain relief

they're allowed to administer, but it's having little effect.

Just take this pain away!

Do you mind if we have a little look? Yeah, as long as you don't move it.

OK, I promise not.

SHE MOANS

Susan's clearly in a lot of pain after slipping on a laminate floor

that her daughter had just washed.

Her knee's swollen and the patella, or kneecap,

seems to be out of place.

I've come in and I've slipped and I've felt my knee go pop

and then it felt like it folded underneath me as well as I went down.

Every move is agony for Susan.

I'm just going to have a little feel, but I'm not going to press too much.

Let's see where things are.

Although Susan is terrified that it will hurt even more,

she manages to pinpoint the pain. OK down here?

It's on the inside as well. OK. On the inside of my knee.

So down here? Is that all OK?

Any pain when I'm pressing? Yeah? SHE MOANS

OK, sorry, sorry. Pain over here.

SHE WAILS

Simon's examining her as gently as he can,

but Susan's barely coping with the extreme pain.

It's a particularly painful injury to dislocate a kneecap,

and if it's dislocated for a long period of time,

it can become more painful because muscles start to spasm.

The gas and air and even morphine she's already had

have barely touched it.

The Magpas emergency team is going to give her one of the most

powerful painkillers available to them.

When did you last have anything to eat or drink, Sue?

Er, yesterday, about seven o'clock. Yesterday?! Really?

Nothing at all today? She's on a diet. She's lost five stone.

OK, well done. Gosh. Right.

SHE SCREAMS Sorry.

Nice deep breaths in. Hold the breath.

Susan's injury was a very painful one.

We had to fully assess her, and that often means feeling her foot to see

if she had good pulse, sensation and circulation.

Sometimes that's quite painful to do,

even though she'd had high levels of morphine.

Without an X-ray, it's impossible to tell if the kneecap is broken.

It's definitely in a very strange place.

It's bony. It could be the patella. I can't feel the patella.

It is unusual to get pain all the way round here with it as well.

If Simon can pop her dislocated kneecap back into position,

the pain should ease, but Susan is going to take some persuading.

Just tell me you're not going to touch it, are you?

We'd like to try and solve the pain for you.

If it's the kneecap that's out,

because it feels quite bony on this side,

that's where it tends to go, and we can pop it back in.

That might help, OK?

So what we'd like to do is probably

give you something that just makes you sleepy and forget it. OK?

Does that sound good? Hmm!

That sounds good to Susan.

Fantastic.

Every touch is torture,

but the ketamine is not only powerful but very fast acting.

And once the pain is removed, correcting Susan's knee

will be a relatively straightforward procedure.

You won't remember a thing.

Good stuff.

The dosage is critical.

Monitoring your weight, what's your weight at the moment?

My exact weight, last time I knew, was 15.3.

The ketamine is given intravenously and once it gets to work,

they'll have Susan's pain under control.

Take this pain away!

Later, the drugs take effect.

Magpas' Dr Simon Lewis prepares to perform the delicate task

of putting Susan's knee back in position.

Just feeling round here now that she's pain-free,

to see if there's a kneecap around.

And if it is, I've got to flip it and get it back in again.

It's late afternoon in the ambulance control centre at Bedford.

Call handler Felicity is on the phone to a father

whose wife is in labour. They live in a remote village.

All the drama is happening in the Turner family's downstairs loo.

Simon has dashed back from a family party after an urgent text message

from his wife Liz.

I could hear her screaming and could see her over the toilet,

totally and utterly beside herself, screaming, panicked.

I asked Liz if I should ring 999. Obviously, Liz said yes.

He was panicked, but he was really attentive

and really good at listening and,

I assume, following the instructions that were given.

We get a lot of calls in this situation where the person is

hysterical or just not listening to you, just shouting back.

And so he was one of the callers that you want.

By now, Liz is lying on the cloakroom floor.

It's her second baby, and everything is happening too fast.

There was a little bit of a comedy moment where Liz screamed,

"You're trying to push it back in! You're trying to push it back in!"

Felicity has been on the call for just six minutes

when the baby girl is delivered.

But her work is far from over.

Later, all attention is on the baby.

An ambulance is just minutes away,

but it's up to Simon to get the baby breathing.

Seconds feel like hours, really,

so in my mind, at the back of my mind, I'm thinking that

the longer she's blue and not breathing, the more trouble we're in.

I'm going to have a chat with one of the call handlers.

Abbey looks like she might be free, so let's have a chat with Abbey.

Hello, can I have a chat? Are you on a call? No. Jolly good.

I wanted to talk to you about things that kids eat that they shouldn't. Yeah.

It can be all kinds of weird things. You hear about kids

shoving peas up their nose and having to be rescued from that,

but some of it can be chemically quite serious.

We get some dodgy things.

We had an incident of a child who ate one of the tablets that

goes in the toilet cisterns, obviously thinking,

hoping it might have been quite a nice big blue sweetie.

Well, they're quite brightly coloured

and sometimes they are called toilet cakes as well, aren't they? Yeah.

So it's kind of misleading for a child.

What do you do in a circumstance like that?

We had a call from a quite frantic mother,

who found the baby with cake in mouth and phoned us up.

It's quite important, we need to know what make it is

for the chemicals that are in so that we can find out how toxic it is.

Different cakes have different chemicals, different flavours.

They all make up... I don't think it's flavours, is it?

Smells, flavours. You could say flavours.

The call taker who took this did get quite caught up in the moment,

trying to get the information

and asked what flavour it was that this child had eaten.

But it's important to know the chemical composition to know how to deal with it.

Yes, because the hospital needs to know so they know

what treatment to give the child when they get to hospital.

What's the best thing you can give a child if there is something

chemically gone in to sort of sustain

whilst the diagnosis is going on?

For small amounts, we advise to give milk

to neutralise what's gone in.

Other big amounts, or if we're unsure,

needs to go to hospital just to be safe.

Take, obviously, the stuff with you so that they know what's in it.

What's the weirdest you ever heard of a child trying to swallow?

We had a child put an umbrella in his mouth, and not the pointy end.

He put the handle... What, curved handle? Yeah.

Right into his throat, and of course, you say, "Don't remove it,"

because you don't want to damage anything,

and this child had then gone and pulled it straight out,

screaming his head off, bleeding, so obviously we had to take him in.

Fortunately, no damage was done.

I don't think his mum will leave any umbrellas lying around any time soon.

How do you get a curved umbrella...

I'm not even going to think about it! Weird what children will go for.

It is quite strange.

Just be careful and don't leave too much stuff around. Right. Thank you very much.

Rush hour on the M1 near Milton Keynes.

PC Steve Leathersich and Russ Irwin are responding to

reports of a crash, but the details are confusing.

One report is that a car had driven into

the central reservation of the motorway.

We've had another report suggesting that there's two lorries

and a car and a van that have had a crash,

so we're just going to go along and see what we've got.

Heavy traffic is building for several miles already.

Do we know what's involved? Not at the moment, no!

As far as I know, that's a witness that's just stopped to assist.

He took the injured party out of this one into the ambulance.

And I assume the lorry's involved, from what we've been told.

A family has had a dramatic escape.

Their car has veered across two lanes of the M1.

They were struck by a left-hand-drive lorry from Italy.

They urgently need to get the traffic moving,

but the car has hit the central reservation with such force,

its front wheel has sheared off.

The chassis grinds into the tarmac.

The police can get the traffic moving again.

The next task is getting statements from everyone involved.

First, the lorry driver.

The driver... HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN

It quickly becomes clear they are going to need an interpreter.

PC Leathersich calls the police translation service.

Italian, yeah. It's Leathersich.

Just so you know, we're at the side of the motorway at the moment,

so I may be asking you to repeat a bit, because it's quite noisy here.

It's nothing personal.

But the driver gets so involved on the phone, that he suddenly

puts himself in danger, wandering into the busy carriageway.

Oi! Oi! No! No! Stay. Stay here.

The police have had enough close shaves for one day on the M1.

Just saving that bloke's life.

The driver has told the interpreter he only knew about the accident

when he heard something hit the right side of his lorry.

Right. I think I got the gist of that.

Can you just confirm with him that he was always in the left-hand lane?

In a nearby ambulance, the family from a damaged car are being checked over.

It's clear the outcome could have been very different.

Well, thankfully, everyone's only suffered minor injury.

A bit of muscular, as you've seen, the car, the state of that,

that spun around, bounced from the middle lane

out into the central reservation and come to a stop there.

So it would have been a bit of a scary experience for them,

but thankfully they were all wearing their belts

and we had the right result.

Meanwhile, police colleagues are taking statements from other witnesses

who appear to have seen something different.

You've got witnesses confirming that the lorry was

moving from lane one to lane two?

Thank you.

He gets straight back on to the interpreter.

So can you put that to him,

that he has been witnessed moving into the middle lane,

and if he wishes to change the account that he's given me?

HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN

After a few minutes of heated conversation,

the driver wants to give some more details of what happened.

Right. OK. We just wanted to clarify that, because that's what we suspected.

The police work is not over yet.

The carriageway needs to be closed again so the Highways Agency

can check if there is any damage to the central reservation.

We've just asked if we can do a rolling roadblock

to allow them time to assess the damage in a safer environment.

There's my sergeant down the road causing utter chaos,

bringing the road to a halt. He loves the power.

In fairness, it's the only time anyone ever listens to him,

when he's in a police car and got the blue lights on.

The family heads off for a ride with the recovery truck.

The police have all the information they need.

The Italian driver can continue on his way.

No problem? No, no.

You go on your way. Ciao! Ciao.

The central reservation has not been damaged,

so now the road is clear,

PCs Leathersich and Irwin are on their way.

Best you get in the car before there's another accident.

Are we done? We're all done now.

Tea and medals.

Later, the police draw their conclusions.

It's just trying to raise awareness to the foreign lorry drivers

so that they think twice, have a look, double look again

and make sure that everything's clear before they pull out.

Still to come on Real Rescues...

There's some mention about somebody being deaf as well.

A group of friends needs help after struggling on the emergency phone.

So the police take the matter in hand, going beyond the call of duty.

And not even a full head of hair can protect Robert

from an encounter with a wheelie bin.

I expect it's a job to see it with all that hair up there!

Yeah, you've got a bit more than me.

Back to Susan, who suffered a very painful injury

just after slipping on a laminate floor.

She's in so much pain, the ambulance crew have

called in an emergency doctor to treat her in the vehicle.

We're about to see Dr Simon Lewis put Susan's kneecap

back in place, something usually carried out in a hospital.

In the back of the ambulance, Susan is in agony.

She's dislocated her knee and it's very swollen.

You're doing ever so well. 15 so far? 15mg of morphine.

Even morphine couldn't take the edge off the pain.

Now the Magpas emergency medics are on board, they can give more

advanced treatment usually only carried out in hospital.

SHE GROANS

Oooh... Somebody take this pain away!

You're doing ever so well, Sue.

You can see the bruising here on the inside.

And this lump here, which is actually bony, it's hard to feel,

which is likely to be the kneecap

that's come out of the side.

Simon will manipulate the kneecap through the skin using his hand.

It will only take a few moments,

but it's impossible when the patient is conscious.

The advanced Magpas team are going to use the drug ketamine.

In this situation,

ketamine is a very useful drug.

It's a very strong painkiller

and also it has amnesic properties,

along with the sedative properties,

so we briefly put Susan to sleep.

Ready?

What's your daughter's name, Sue?

Simon's trying to take Susan's mind off what's happening...

What's your daughter's name?

..at the same time as judging when the anaesthetic takes effect.

11. 11?

Bless! You've got her cleaning the floors at 11?

That's better trained than most.

The drug is beginning to do its job.

You're going to start feeling a bit funny. Don't worry, just go with it.

It gives you some fantastic dreams, this stuff.

OK? How you doing there?

You feeling OK?

Susan's out.

So she will still cry out a little bit

but she won't remember a thing.

If you're able to hold her ankle there for me...

Getting the kneecap back into place is a delicate two-handed job.

OK, so we've given her some drugs that will make her really sleepy

and pain-free, and then just feeling round here, now that she's pain-free,

to see if there's a kneecap around.

And if it isn't, if it's here, and if it is, then, hopefully...

..we can flip it and get it back in again.

Sometimes with the swelling around, that's easier said than done.

Is Susan was awake, this would be unbearable.

It's just coming over.

I can feel it. There you go. Back in.

He's done it, and not a murmur from the patient.

Immediately, her knee looks better.

Now they just need to put it in a splint to hold everything in place

for the journey to hospital and bring Susan round.

With ketamine, when she starts to wake up,

it can...people can get a little bit upset occasionally.

It's normally because there's a lot of noise or there's any light,

lots of lights around, so if we keep it as quiet as possible,

and in a minute we'll turn down the lights when everyone's happy,

and we'll wake her up nice and gently.

SUSAN SCREAMS

Well done, well done.

Ketamine's a very powerful drug,

and they'll have to handle Susan's recovery very carefully.

Susan's coming round. They need to work quickly.

I'm happy. Yeah.

Sometimes with this drug,

you can get something called emergence phenomena,

where actually, people, because of the drug,

start misinterpreting things that come into their eyes and their ears,

and they basically think they're hallucinating.

And they can be very, very agitated, very difficult to control,

so if you make it calm and quiet,

then they have a better chance of waking up OK. Hi, Sue.

Hello.

Wake up for me. Hiya. She's nice and comfy.

Susan will now be taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital,

where her knee will be X-rayed to assess the full extent of the damage.

At the control centre for the East of England Ambulance Trust,

call handler Felicity is in the midst of an urgent call.

At this family home, dad Simon

has delivered his wife Liz's second child, a girl,

but all is not well.

I was thinking at that point that the longer she's not breathing,

the more trouble we're in potentially,

and we're going to end up being rushed to hospital

when the paramedic ambulance crew eventually arrived.

And you just don't know, because you haven't got that knowledge,

you don't know how long they can survive without breathing or

whether they're still being fed by the cord and it's no problem,

so at that point, they need to get here really quickly

and deal with the situation.

An ambulance is en route,

but call handler Felicity and backup clinical staff are going

to tell Simon exactly how to get the baby breathing.

LIZ WHIMPERS

LIZ SOBS

Felicity's trained ears can block out the mum's screams.

She's listening out for the crucial sound from the baby.

With pregnancy and labour, the women are always screaming

and it doesn't tell you anything.

But if you can hear the baby crying,

that's what you're listening out for,

so you become good at tuning out the noises that aren't relevant.

BABY GURGLES

There's a massive sense of relief when she did start to splutter

and cough, and then her whole colour changed.

She started to pink up and at that point,

there's another sense of relief, so going through panic

and relief at different levels all the way through, really.

In my head, I'm thinking, at what point can I relax and be

in the knowledge that everything is actually going to be OK?

Later, Emma wins the most punctual baby award,

as mum Liz relives her daughter's most dramatic birth.

I was panicked and terrified, just really worried, I suppose,

about having gone through it, getting into a state of shock,

I think, that it was all happening and happening so quickly.

One of the key questions that South Western ambulance call takers

have to ask is, is the victim conscious?

Not always easy to ascertain, as Phil can explain.

Give us an example of a call where that's the case.

I have the facility to listen to the calls when they're happening live,

and a couple of the problems we encounter are when the call taker

is trying to find out whether the patient is actually conscious or not.

They can have difficulty, because everybody is very gentle

with their relatives and one particular case I was listening to

was an elderly couple, and the wife couldn't wake the husband and

had been trying to do so for an hour, so had called in to say there was

no response, so everybody thinks that this patient's unconscious.

We weren't really getting very far,

and I butted in and said to the lady on the phone,

"I wouldn't normally say this,

"but what I need you to do is clench your fist in that sort of shape

"and rub your knuckles up and down your husband's sternum, breastbone."

She did that, and I said, "You have to be firm,"

and he woke up saying, "What are you doing? Get off me."

So, in fact, he was conscious. So are we always too gentle?

We have to establish, because time is critical in terms

of resuscitation, if that person is genuinely unconscious.

In that sort of situation,

we need to be very quick and very sure what we're dealing with.

So just be a little bit more firm, because as you say,

we do tend to be a bit more gentle with our own friends and relatives.

But it worked wonders.

And if you try and do resus on a bed, that's difficult,

because the body is bouncing up and down.

Much better to have that person on the floor, but people

are frightened of hurting them when they pull them off the bed.

On a similar occasion, we've had people where they don't want

to tip their relatives out of a chair in case they injure them,

while it can't get worse than it is, so we would say, tip them out,

we can deal with the injuries later,

but we need to get them on a flat surface.

All right. So be firm if you're trying to help somebody,

because they need to establish

whether those people are conscious or capable of consciousness or not.

It's Saturday morning at Milton Keynes police station.

PC Neil Stephenson is starting a day shift with PC Claire Green.

As soon as they head out of the gates details come through of an accident.

It's in a residential area in a town just a few miles south.

It's just come in as an injury accident at the moment

at a junction in Bletchley.

It doesn't say any more than that at the moment.

It should be a nice surprise when we get there(!)

They've got a few miles to cover and some difficult drivers to avoid.

They arrive in Bletchley and have no problem finding the accident.

A two-car crunch at a crossroads. An ambulance is already on the scene.

One of the drivers is being treated inside.

As PC Green gets all the details from the other driver it's Neil's job

to clear the road as soon as possible.

Not a happy car.

ENGINE SPLUTTERS

But this car is going to take some coaxing just to get it to the

side of the road.

I think it's a write-off anyway. Never mind.

The second car is not so badly damaged

and Neil quickly gets it out of the way.

This is a quick job for the traffic cops.

Claire has got all the statements she needs.

PC Stephenson clears up, then the two can get on the road again.

They're needed back on the M1.

The details from Control are very sketchy.

There's a report of somebody at an

SOS box on the M1 just near Milton Keynes.

Apparently they have called up asking for help, but there is some

mention about somebody being deaf as well, so I don't know.

A bit of confusion.

They head up the northbound carriageway of the M1.

Control has reported that the caller was having difficulty making

themselves understood over the phone.

The traffic is flowing freely,

suggesting there is no accident blocking a carriageway.

As they pass Newport Pagnell Neil spots the stricken motorists

waving from the hard shoulder.

Yes, we can see you. Yes.

Hello.

Even from a distance the police can see that there is no

damage to the car's bodywork.

As they get closer they can tell exactly what's happened.

It's a blow-out. That's all it is.

OK.

Gemma is deaf but can explain to Neil how a passing motorist

told them they'd had a blow-out. Do you have recovery?

Her three friends are also deaf

and getting help over the phone was difficult.

It's not part of their job but Neil

and Claire decide to change the punctured tyre

themselves rather than wait for the breakdown services.

OK.

Come on, get those little fingers working!

The traffic is fast and close.

This is the quickest way for the police to remove a potential

distraction hazard and keep the group safe.

Can you start writing out the bill?

Sorry? Can you start writing out the bill?

LAUGHTER

That should be OK to get you off the motorway.

Go to a garage for a new tyre.

This tyre will get them as far as a garage where

they can buy a replacement.

Go to Northampton to buy a new tyre.

The job is done and after some profuse thanks the friends

can get on their way.

Emergency care practitioner Andy Rudge is responding to

a call from sheltered accommodation on the south coast.

I'm off to see a 72-year-old gentleman who's had a bin

fall on his head and has got a cut or a wound to his head.

He arrives to find a responder from the fire service is

already on scene.

Andy's specialist training means he can stitch and

dress difficult wounds at the patient's home.

Upstairs he meets manager Elaine, who is with the injured man

and can explain how the unusual accident happened.

Robert was looking in a bin

and the bin lid fell down on top of his head. Bang.

Because it was up against a wall,

and a stupid idiot, I didn't make sure the lid was well

back before I tried to get this thing out of the bin.

Unfortunately the metal catch came down on top of my head.

The actual metal catch.

If the plastic had hit me I would have been all right.

You put the lid up and it's just come down and hit you on the head?

Elaine's first thought was to stop the bleeding.

We put him in the chair and got a compress and held on to

it for half an hour until this young man turned up and took over.

Sean, the fire co-responder, brings Andy up to speed on the injury.

It wasn't bleeding when I arrived. I've taken it off to have a look and it seems to be fine.

Other than that I've brought some medication for his heart.

He's got a regular heartbeat. The heart's a bit quick. 104.

He's on aspirin. Any allergies? Any allergies, Robert?

Are you allergic to any medication? Yes, penicillin.

OK.

Before Robert's cut is attended to

Andy needs to check nothing else more serious is going on.

First step is taking his blood pressure.

That's all fine.

I'm just going to have a quick feel down your neck.

No pain? No.

I can't really see the cut on your head at the moment,

so I'm going to give it a good old clean. Yes.

And hopefully we should be able to sort you out here.

I expect it's a job to see it with all that hair up there.

Yes, you've got a bit more than me, but...

Thank God I didn't have a haircut.

No, you've got a nice pink tint at the moment.

It's just some cold water, all right? Yes, right-oh.

You know, it might be a little uncomfortable but we need to

just make sure we see this cut.

It came down with such a bang.

Now the wound is cleaned Andy can get a good look at the cut.

It's only a small cut. Just to let you know.

I had visions of my whole head being split open.

The amount of blood that comes out of your head... Yes.

Your head does bleed a lot. When I saw all the blood...

Heads bleed well.

All I'm going to do is put on what we say is some medical glue.

You won't need any stitches or staples or anything.

Sometimes it stings a bit, all right? Yes. Right-oh. Carry on.

But it wears off quite quickly. Like I say, it is only a small wound.

As promised, the glue stings.

ROBERT GASPS

But not for long.

Just like that. All done.

Now Robert's head wound is repaired Andy conducts a few standard tests.

I'm going to whisper something in your ear. Yes.

I just want you to repeat it after me. Is that all right? Yes.

Bit of a test.

(Cornflakes.) Cornflakes.

Chewing motion. Like chewing gum.

Stick your tongue out.

(Rice crispies.) Rice crispies. Top man.

I'm going to touch your face. I want you to touch where I touch.

Shrug your shoulders.

That's all fine.

And Andy has another piece of good news for Robert.

Your blood pressure is good.

You have got blood pressure of someone half your age.

After a little bit of advice

and a present of some bedtime reading

Andy is ready for his next call.

Take care, Robert. Thank you. No problem.

'Hit on the head. He had a cut. It needed closing.'

I was able to do that. Saved him a trip to hospital.

So that was a good job and he was a nice chap.

And he's got someone to look after him which is the main thing.

I'm happy.

You're going to start feeling a bit funny.

Susan, the patient whose dislocated kneecap was put

back in place by an emergency medical team in an ambulance,

stayed in hospital overnight.

She was sent home and six weeks later underwent surgery to

stabilise her knee.

After convalescing at home for several weeks

she made a good recovery.

Police completed their investigation into the M1 crash.

They concluded the driver pulled out in front of the family car.

It's not the first time they've encountered foreign lorries

getting caught up in these kind of accidents.

It is a very common occurrence,

specifically on dual carriageways, motorways,

because of the left-hand-drive factor of the lorries.

With that being the case it creates a big blind spot

'which will be into the middle

'lane of the motorway or the outside lane of the dual carriageway.

'And if a car is up alongside the lorry then the lorry driver just

'cannot see because of this blind spot.

'So it pulls out thinking the way is clear

'and unfortunately ends up sideswiping the car.'

The police decided not to prosecute as this time the family

escaped shaken but unhurt.

They are hoping left-hand-drivers will become more

aware of the dangers.

All right.

There was a scheme that had been set up at ports around the country where

they were issuing special mirrors to add on to the sides of the lorries,

to the mirrors they've already got, which helps out with the blind spot,

hopefully making it easier for the drivers to see the vehicles

that are down in their blind spot.

I believe that scheme is still going,

but it's just trying to raise awareness to the foreign

lorry drivers so that they think twice, have a look,

'double look again and make sure everything's clear before they pull out.'

The baby delivered by her dad in the family's downstairs loo is thriving.

Emma is now two months old

and none the worse for her speedy entry into the world.

Emma arrived six minutes after dad Simon called 999

and less than half an hour after Liz texted her husband for help.

Dad Simon wasn't expecting to be quite

so hands-on at the birth of his second child, but with

the help of call handler Felicity he acquitted himself perfectly.

'Simon is fairly laid-back, generally horizontal,

'and able to follow instruction. Cool, calm.'

So he responded to this in exactly the way

I would have expected him to, I suppose.

And I'm very grateful that he did.

But Liz didn't fully relax until the paramedic arrived

moments after baby Emma's arrival.

'In my mind it was still panic mode.

'Are we safe? Is everything OK here?

'He definitely had that kind of aura about him'

that this was a good situation.

"You've got a baby. Well done."

It's rare for call handlers to remember every detail of the emergencies

they deal with, but this one has stayed in Felicity's memory.

'You don't deliver that many babies.'

They don't always arrive that quickly

so although you might be on the phone during the labour,

you don't actually deliver that many,

because normally the crew get there in time.

So you do normally remember those.

Simon will certainly remember the delivery,

especially that first sound from baby Emma.

'It wasn't the biggest wail but it was enough to make us'

realise that she was breathing and she was OK.

We still needed the reassurance of a paramedic to tell us that everything

was actually 100% OK and everything was working in good order.

With more checks from the midwife,

Liz and Simon's house was a hive of activity for a few hours.

'I think it was about 8pm'

that they had all left us

and we're sat down with a newborn baby in the lounge sleeping

and we're tucking into our evening meal and it's just surreal, very surreal.

Regarding our birth in the downstairs toilet earlier in the programme,

I've always been an advocate of DIY around the home.

But I have to say there are certain things that you shouldn't try

and take on yourself, and delivering a baby is one of them.

Leave it to the professionals if you can.

That's it for today's Real Rescues. See you next time.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

It's not about beating the clock...

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It's going to blow their mind.