Episode 2 Real Rescues

Trapped in a smoke-filled flat, fighting to breathe.

Firefighters have just minutes to save his life.

Stay there. We're coming to get you.

And how a relaxing caravan holiday in Scotland

turns into a full-scale drama.

Hello, and welcome to Real Rescues

from the emergency operations centre of South Central Ambulance Service.

This control room takes emergency calls

from a huge area of southern England.

Calls come in at a rate of one per minute,

and each one has the potential to be a life-or-death situation.

That's exactly what our first rescue was - life or death.

Neighbours have spotted black smoke billowing from a first-floor flat.

There are people inside the building

and Southampton's Green Watch have only got minutes to get them out.

The fire crew are heading across Southampton city centre

to a block of flats just a few miles from their fire station.

Whereabouts is it?

It's late afternoon, before the rush-hour. The roads are clear.

Over there, Stan.

At least one person is trapped inside the burning flat.

There?

Straight up ahead? Is it straight ahead, over?

INDISTINCT RADIO

All right, cover and jet, guys.

Neighbours have reported seeing at least one man trying to get out.

Pardon?

Thick black smoke is pouring from a first-floor window,

but neighbours tell the crew to go around the back.

Quick as you can, guys!

Yes, all right. Stay there.

Come on, Guy, get by the control board.

Watch manager Sean is inside the building on the ground floor.

Is it the first floor? Show me where it is.

-Receiving, over.

-The man's face has been spotted at this window,

but the smoke is too thick to see anyone now.

The only way to reach him is going to be with a ladder.

Sean heads out of the building to organise the rescue.

Right, get by the board. Start up the A crew.

Two of the crew are kitted up with breathing apparatus to go inside.

Get by the BA board. Start up.

As the smoke clears, suddenly there's a glimmer of hope.

The man's hand can be seen on the window.

That'll be fine. Can you get up there?

Get the hose reel up there.

-INAUDIBLE SPEECH

-Yeah, we know, mate.

Bobby, get the hose reel up there. Don't go in.

-Now the hand is grabbing at the window frame. He's alive!

-Right.

Now there's more movement at the window.

Just get him to fresh air, close the door behind you. OK?

-Don't risk it.

-The trapped man hauls his head out,

desperate for a way out and gasping for air.

Right, guys, back!

But time is running out.

Stay there. We're coming to get you.

That's terrifying. We'll have more on that rescue later.

These emergency centres exist all over the UK

and a human drama unfolded when 999 call handler Peter Cook

took a call from a caravan holiday site near Edinburgh.

Well, I'm so delighted to say

the man on the other end of the phone was Peter, and here he is.

I've got to say, I would have panicked completely.

What was going through your mind?

The important thing is to get the address.

Once we managed to get the address, you knew that help was on the way.

It just makes your job so much easier.

The ambulance is on their way. What's your priorities then?

-You've got mum with twins.

-That's the thing.

This is what makes this call so unusual.

There's three patients. Normally... I've delivered 16 babies.

Once you've... Normally, you've only got one mother

and as soon as the baby is born, the priority is the baby.

At one point in the call, she's like, "I'm holding one of them

"and then there's another one on the way."

Also, the baby that was born, the cord was ruptured.

So it was just like you've got three patients.

It was just so nerve-racking. But you've just got a job to do.

And they were premature. I mean, how long...?

-28 weeks.

-You must have thought, "Oh, my goodness."

I know. It was just...At one point, I just thought, "This is insane."

She had one baby in her hand, so you want to concentrate on that,

but at one point, she was like, "It's coming."

And I was like, "Oh, no."

Luckily, Dad came at that point on the phone

and just, you know, delivered the second one.

And that's when the baby wasn't breathing.

Then you think, "Oh, thank goodness, we've got the one twin out

"then we had the other twin out, I can relax."

But it was only just beginning.

We had a serious problem.

The cord on the first baby was ruptured.

When the second was born that wasn't breathing, it was just...

It was just something else.

Well, let's just see exactly what happened.

Well, let's meet the characters in that phone call.

I've got to say, in a much happier and much more relaxed state.

Starting on the far side, we've got Bethany, second eldest of the family,

then Dad here and then we've got the first twin here, little Katherine,

Mummy, and this one, who caused all the trouble later on, this is James.

-I'll come to you first of all, Mummy, are you all fit and well now?

-We are.

-Yes?

-Yep.

-No problems whatsoever, apart from the usual?

Apart from the usual.

-Now, you've got six children in total.

-Six.

-These two are the most dramatic?

-Definitely.

I won't be doing it again. We won't be making it seven!

I don't blame you.

-Dad, how are you getting on?

-Fine.

When you listened to that phone call, did the horrible memories come back?

I remember it like it was yesterday.

It must have been probably the worst moment in your life.

Yeah. Definitely.

Definitely the worst situation I've ever been in.

I sit next to this man, who seems remarkably calm.

Can you remember talking to him on the phone?

Can you remember what was going on?

I can remember everything he said. Everything he told me to do.

And it worked in the end.

I'm looking over at Bethany, as well. You started it all off, didn't you?

Because Dad had gone off to play with the other kids

and Mum got in distress and you made the first phone call, right?

-Yeah.

-And you spoke to this man?

I think it was a woman at first, but I think I went on to him, yeah.

-You raced off and got Dad back.

-Yeah.

We were just talking about it a little bit earlier on.

It was drama after drama after drama.

I remember hearing your voice saying,

"I've got a twin in one hand and another one's on the way."

Um, what was going through your mind?

Obviously, being an experienced mother,

you must have just about seen it all.

Well, yeah.

Because they were so tiny when they were born, it was scary.

But because she was crying, I felt a bit more relaxed.

I knew she was all right because she was making a noise.

Yeah. This one was noisy. Still quite noisy, which is good to hear,

but this little chap, with gorgeous cheeks, caused you real panic.

Yeah. We couldn't hear him breathe. He wasn't making a noise.

It was incredibly scary.

Yeah. He had an unusual medical condition.

He has TOF. Tracheoesophageal fistula.

You've said that a few times, haven't you? Which meant what?

His windpipe was joined to his oesophagus.

His oesophagus and his stomach aren't joined.

Well, they are now, but they weren't originally.

So he's not been able to swallow until he was four months old,

until they did the surgery to join them together.

He had to have surgery at a day old so that he could breathe properly.

There you are on holiday, having to deal with these medical conditions.

You had to talk Dad through helping this little one get to breathe.

-How well did he do?

-He was perfect. Without question.

You gave him an instruction, he just went and done it without question.

He just, er...he did brilliantly.

Everybody's, fingers crossed, fit and well.

This one just keeps staring at me.

If you don't stare too closely, I might steal him away from you.

Does it make your job feel all worthwhile

when you see this happy little family here?

It really, really does.

You forget how important it is.

Sometimes when you're staring at a screen,

or a voice at the end of a phone,

you forget just how important your job is.

So, how many babies now? You've had 16 and now some twins.

16. So I think I'm in the wrong profession.

You should be a midwife.

Well, thank you very much for joining us. Good luck.

-There's definitely not any more babies to come?

-Definitely not.

-Dad?

-Yep.

-He's confirmed that. Never again.

Thank you very much, all of you. And, er...take care.

Responding to an emergency

is always something of a leap into the unknown.

And this next story really is a tale of the unexpected.

You're about to see dramatic footage of a car crash

from the moment it actually happens.

SIRENS WAIL

Oh, my God!

This was shot by a police car's onboard camera

as it headed out on blue lights and sirens

to another car accident on this stretch of road.

As they reach the queueing traffic,

a woman in a silver car on the opposite side of the road

spots their blue lights and slows down to allow them to overtake.

But as she does, so the red van behind her fails to notice

-and smashes straight into her car.

-Oh, God!

We'd better deal with that one.

Traffic cops Richard Hobbs and Alex Blayber

immediately shift their attention

to the accident that's happened right in front of their eyes.

I'll dash out and make sure she's OK.

35-year-old Gwyneth Adams has got out of her car immediately.

Wait there. My colleague will come and speak to you.

-I'll speak to this lady. Are you sure you're OK?

-Yeah.

Although Gwyneth is shaken up, she isn't complaining of any injuries.

Her car hasn't fared so well.

This side's all right, but this one looks a bit close to the...

..the wheel.

Yeah, it's going to...

You won't be able to drive that unless we can get the bumper out.

It's right up against your wheel. And obviously...

any distance you travel, it's going to eat into the wheel

and cause your tyre to...to burst on you.

Despite Richard's best efforts, the bumper refuses to move right out.

Every time, it just folds back in on itself.

-Do you have any breakdown cover?

-No.

-OK.

-The one thing I haven't got.

-The one thing that you haven't got.

OK. Not a problem. We can sort it out.

Fortunately, there's a lay-by cafe nearby.

As Richard checks out the van driver, who's also uninjured,

Gwyneth settles down with a cup of tea

and lets everyone know she's going to be late.

Everyone involved must be breathalysed.

-When did you last have any alcohol?

-It would have been Saturday evening.

Brilliant. A deep breath in and blow hard.

Keep going, keep going, keep going. That's fine. Thank you very much.

-That's the sample taken.

-Brilliant.

We'll just analyse it and I'm sure it'll say zero.

There we go. Brilliant.

Gwyneth will now have to wait for her car to be towed to a safe place.

Richard lets her know help is at hand if she needs it.

If there is a problem, ring us, quote that reference

and we'll come back out and help you out. All right?

-Nice to have met you.

-Sorry about the circumstances.

You don't need to apologise at all.

You were just doing what we'd expect, really.

I want to pick up on a few points with Bob, a traffic policeman,

about what happened in that film that we saw.

So there was an accident originally, then another one.

So what do we do if we're driving along, we see sirens,

we hear sirens, we see flashing lights. What we do?

Make sure it's safe to pull over to the left,

check mirrors, indicate to the left, find somewhere safe to pull over.

Try to avoid a sharp bend in the road or brow of a hill.

So those are the things to look out for.

You should always pull over or be looking to pull over.

We wouldn't urge people to mount pavements to damage their vehicle.

Find somewhere safe, indicate to the left,

check your mirrors, pull over when it's safe to do so.

In that film, we saw that the accident we saw

was on the opposite side to the police car. Does that happen often?

It does unfortunately happen quite often

where some drivers may overreact to the blue lights and the siren,

stop very suddenly and the car behind them hasn't seen what's gone on

because their vision may have been obscured.

So unfortunately, they've had a rear end shunt.

The rule of thumb is as soon as you hear or see something, slow down.

Just slow down, indicate. Let the car behind you,

if you are travelling in the opposite direction, know what's going on.

Indicate, pull over to the left and do it all nice and slowly and safely.

I will remember. Thank you very much, Bob.

Let's take you back to that fire at a block of flats in Southampton.

A man is desperately hanging out of a window,

gasping for air as fire rips through his flat.

The crews can only get to him using a first-floor balcony.

The trapped man is hanging out of a first-floor window

as fire engulfs his flat.

Stay there. We're coming to get you.

The man's gasping for air just a few feet from firefighters

Rob and Guy as they head up the ladder.

They'll have to go into the burning flat to get him out.

All right.

The balcony doors open,

Rob will use the hose to cool the deadly hot gases.

Well done, Stan.

Wearing breathing apparatus, Guy and Alex head into the unknown.

A thermal-imaging camera will guide them.

They're coming to get you. Can you understand me?

At last, a beam of torchlight penetrates the blackness.

They've reached the man, but he's too frightened

to leave the open window.

-Pull him down.

-His head's stuck.

His head's stuck. Lift your head up.

Come down.

Let go, mate! Let go!

You're all right, fella!

We'll get him on the ladder. All right, mate, here you go.

The disorientated flat owner is hauled into the fresh air.

His ordeal is almost over.

Just take your time and take a breath.

You all right?

Guy? Shut the door of the flat!

The man is very shocked. He needs oxygen.

He's been breathing in toxic fumes which can cause lasting damage.

But the man is too bewildered and weak to help himself.

He's taken in a lot of smoke. The ambulance is on its way.

SIRENS WAIL

Paramedics are on their way as Rob and Guy haul him onto the ladder.

ALL TALK AT ONCE

Rob carries him down. His crewmate is ready with the oxygen.

But after escaping the suffocating fumes,

the man is still traumatised

and tries to resist the oxygen mask being put over his face.

Breathe in. It's good.

The man is out and safe, but smoke is still pouring out of the windows.

The hoses are trained on the outside

while Guy and Alex head back inside.

They need to double check there are no more people trapped inside.

Guys, gas cooling.

When you see these guys at work,

you are amazed by their professionalism, their patience,

their calmness under pressure and sometimes their ingenuity.

I want to introduce you to Stephanie. Hi, Stephanie.

Now, you got a rather unusual call from a gentleman.

I did. It was quite early in the morning.

And I couldn't understand what he was saying at all.

Very garbled, slurred speech.

And I checked all of our system,

I couldn't find any details on the telephone number.

He was ringing off a mobile.

I was like, "I don't know what to do." There was nothing I could do.

-So, no method of communication?

-No.

-So, what did you do?

I asked if he understood me.

I said, "Tap your mouthpiece if you understand me."

And he must have understood me clearly.

The only way I thought I could get any sort of address from him

was to go through the alphabet to try and find out his postcode.

You went through the alphabet, he tapped on the right letter.

He tapped on the right letter and right number. I got his postcode.

Asked him if the address was right and he tapped.

And all I kept thinking was, "Please be a little street."

-You don't want to go through it all.

-No.

There were a good hundred numbers on the street.

And all I could think was, "Please remember how to count."

And luckily, he lived quite low down.

So I managed to get the number he tapped.

I asked if his front door was open and he tapped again.

I thought, "Brilliant. The crew can get in."

And the crew arrived and he'd had quite a severe stroke.

So he was unable to communicate.

He couldn't communicate with me at all.

So thank goodness you had a bit of ingenuity.

It was quite lovely, really.

When the crew arrived, there was a paper next to him

that he'd written to say thank you to the lady on the phone.

-So it was quite nice.

-How wonderful.

We got there eventually and he got dealt with really well.

You've just got to keep thinking on this desk.

-Thinking on your feet.

-Exactly. Yeah.

-Stephanie, thank you.

-No problem.

Still to come on Real Rescues -

when an injury becomes less important than the cover story.

What do you want us to tell her?

That my stick slipped

and I fell and hit my back on a projection.

And while Green Watch search for more survivors,

a have-a-go hero is recovering.

One of the largest killers in the UK is a sudden cardiac arrest.

But this amazing bit of kit,

I don't know if you've seen it before, is a defibrillator.

And it's making a difference. How much of a difference?

Well, let's speak to paramedic Duncan.

-Duncan, it is making huge inroads, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

It is the most important piece of equipment

that we use in cardiac arrests.

The use of a defib increases the survival rate by over 50%.

-Really?

-Absolutely.

I must admit, I don't think I've seen these. Where would I find them?

You would've seen it on the football pitch at Tottenham,

which was very successful.

They are out there for public use. Public access defib sites.

What we're actively trying to do is to advertise the case

and make people aware of where they are.

-We can find that on the website?

-Absolutely.

We've got a website called defibfinder.co.uk.

That's got 2,500 sites on it, which should be the national database.

So anybody can see where the nearest one is to where they are.

I'm going to put that down, and I'm putting it into action here.

I find this a bit intimidating. I open the lid.

-You open the lid.

-And it's all self-explanatory?

-It's all self-explanatory.

-OK.

It does a self-check first to make sure all the units are working.

-Okey-dokey.

-Then it will start talking to you

-and it will tell you exactly what to do.

-Ambulance is on its way.

There's the package torn open. Take the pads out.

COMPUTERISED VOICE: '..Remove pads.'

Remove pads. So take that one off.

'Unseal the package and remove pads.'

The first pad is placed on the top right-hand pectoral muscle.

And then I've got to take this off this blue package.

-Place them on the side.

-On the side there.

'Do not touch patient.'

It will now analyse the heart rhythm and it will make a decision.

-You don't have to. It makes it for you.

-OK.

'Shock advised.'

It's decided the heart's in a shockable rhythm.

The light will light up. We make the safety checks

to make sure nobody's touching, and we push the button.

-Shock delivered.

-And that's as simple as it is.

It is now safe to touch the patient.

We commence CPR, as we would have done prior to the pads going on.

-So he's got now got a bit more of a chance.

-Absolutely.

Every two minutes, this will reanalyse the heart's rhythm.

If it requires a shock, it will tell you so.

You reshock and then you go back into CPR.

The most important part of this is, CPR must start immediately.

You've only got a one in six chance in the UK

of anybody doing CPR on you, which is really quite bad.

We need to make sure people start CPR early,

they carry on, the defib is put into place, it's utilised

and the chance of survival is incredible.

Duncan, thank you very much. Good luck, mate.

Here on Real Rescues, we've seen in graphic detail

just how lives are saved on a daily basis.

John Ellsworth was enjoying a morning out and about

and knows first-hand how vital defibrillators are.

They arrived to find a team of police, an off-duty doctor

and a first aider from a local supermarket

trying to resuscitate a man who is flat out on the pavement.

John's heart has stopped functioning properly

and is failing to pump blood around his body.

Police community support officers Daniel and Katie

were two of the first to help John when he collapsed.

Once we turned John over, we were looking for signs of life.

And he wasn't breathing

and we couldn't find a pulse.

We realised he was purple from his head all the way down to his neck.

I was on the radio asking for an ambulance urgently.

The only way to get the heart working again is by electrical shock.

They immediately get a portable defibrillator ready.

It's the essential piece of equipment that John needs to survive.

COMPUTERISED VOICE: 'Shock advised.

'Charging.

'Stay clear of patient.'

-Everybody clear.

-'Deliver shock now.

'Press the orange button. Shock delivered. Start CPR.'

The defibrillator doesn't only give shocks, it also analyses John's heart

to let the team know what to do next.

It advises more CPR, which means John's heart is still not working.

The defibrillator advises another shock.

-Stand clear.

-Stand clear.

'Shock delivered.'

Although all the rescuers remain calm,

they're desperately hoping this one will bring John back to life.

..Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, 13...

They've done it. The machine's automatic voice

confirms John's heart is beating on its own.

'No shock advised.

'It is safe to touch the patient.

'Check for signs of fibrillation.'

Three years on, John is thoroughly enjoying the life he was given back.

One thing about defibrillators is knowing where they are.

Martin Fagan from Community Heartbeat Trust,

you've got a clever idea.

An important thing about having defibrillators in the community

is knowing where they are.

It's not just a matter of their location,

but knowing where they can be found very quickly.

One of the things we're doing is working very closely

with British Telecom to use adopted telephone boxes.

So, what happens? You literally adopt this telephone box

-and it will have a defibrillator in it?

-Absolutely.

So everybody knows where the local telephone box is.

We put a defibrillator in there, the ambulance service says,

"Go to the telephone box, grab the defibrillator."

-It's easier to get to the patient.

-They're iconic sort of structures.

-Do they have phones in them or not?

-The phones have to come out.

The defibrillator is put where the phone is based.

Everybody knows the telephone box.

They're iconic, they're protected environments. Ideal locations.

So you dial 999. They'll tell you where it is, will they?

It will come up on the ambulance service computer.

It says where it's located.

In this case, a telephone box or a village hall or church.

They send the patient to it with the code to get in the box.

The patient takes the defibrillator.

Not the patient, the person making the call, I guess.

And how many have you got?

We've done so far about 50-odd with British Telecom.

But an awful lot more are in the pipeline.

-Good luck. Thank you.

-You're welcome.

Southampton Fire and Rescue's Green Watch

carried out a dramatic rescue operation,

pulling a trapped man out of a burning flat.

Now they've got to go back into the building to check for more victims

and try and find the source of that fire.

He was conscious at the window there.

Our guys brought him down the ladder.

While paramedics treat the flat owner, who's struggling to breathe,

the firefighters go back into the suffocating smoke

to continue their search.

Guys, gas cooling!

INDISTINCT COMMUNICATION

I can't get him.

Get plenty of water in!

Yeah, all received. We'll commit the next team, over.

The crew's tanks will soon run low on air.

They're pulling out. Another team is on standby.

Yeah. Come down.

Meanwhile, the paramedics are treating two unexpected heroes.

Before ringing 999, it turns out that a passer-by and his father

had staged their own rescue attempt.

Do you want to go and take over from them?

Make sure the fire is extinguished and there's no-one else in the flat.

-OK, yeah.

-That's the access.

A relief crew has arrived to take over the search operation.

Inside the flat, the fire is now out.

There was no-one else trapped inside the building.

We extinguished the fire from the door,

then moved the sofa, found another source of flame behind the sofa.

The sofa is on its side because we tilted it

to make sure we got everything underneath and behind it.

Then it was just a case of searching the flat for any further casualties

and any other scenes of fire.

You can see there's quite a lot of stuff on the floor

because as we were making our way out,

we had the casualty and our main objective was to get him out quickly.

Anything in the way, we moved as swiftly as we could.

For Green Watch, it's the end of a challenging day.

We were greeted by near-to-zero visibility

when we went in.

Obviously, using the hose reel and cooling as we went,

the gases in the room,

we then just followed our search pattern around

and eventually, we came to the room where the chap was.

He almost had his head wedged in the window.

So after a bit of chatting with him,

we managed to get his head out of the window

and he was a bit disorientated and a bit reluctant to come to start with.

Rob managed to get him down the ladder

and we left him in the hands of the ambulance service.

The rescued man is breathing better now,

but he'll have to go to hospital for observation.

Some symptoms of smoke inhalation don't show up immediately,

so he'll need careful monitoring.

He's had a lucky escape.

And for Camille and his father, it's a day they will never forget.

A difficult job well done by Green Watch.

The incident had the potential to be very serious.

The gentleman suffered some injuries,

but it could have been a lot worse.

The crews acted quickly and did a professional job

and carried out a rescue and saved the gentleman's life.

He was extremely lucky to get out of that flat

and thanks to two people - lots of people involved, actually -

but Alex and Rob, who are here to tell me about it.

Goodness me, Alex, you were,

I know, one of the people who grabbed him and pulled him out.

Describe to us what it's like when you go into that kind of scene,

and he clearly doesn't want to leave, does he?

No, he didn't want to leave. It was very smoke-logged in the property.

We made entry off of the landing, went into the property

and, as you can see from the video, he had his head partially wedged

in the window and he took a lot of persuasion to come out.

You talk about persuasion - what were you doing? Pulling him?

Saying, "Please leave?"

What is it like? It's going to be desperate, isn't it?

Yeah, pulling him, he was clinging on to the window frame

until the last second, and, yeah, just gently chatting to him

and trying to get him out of the building.

He was doing the right thing, wasn't he?

That was the best thing he could be doing at that stage -

trying to breathe fresh air.

Oh, definitely. He was by the open window

and had a good supply of fresh air, so, definitely.

Then, presumably, he doesn't want to leave the window.

What about trying to get him through the flat,

because that's very hot in there and that's where the fire is too?

Yeah, I mean, as you said he was reluctant to come out

cos we had to take him right back into the depths of the flat

to bring him back out to the means of escape, the ladder,

so, yeah, he was reluctant to come through the property.

You were in charge of the means of escape.

You were at the top of the ladder, weren't you?

-Yeah, that was me.

-He wasn't best pleased to see you, was he?

The guy, he was so disorientated by the whole situation

that I don't think he knew where he was, to be honest.

But yeah, Spreaders gave him to me,

I put him over my shoulder and just carried him straight down.

I was amazed watching it

because I've never seen a ladder rescue like that before

and you, first of all, were trying to slide him down, weren't you?

Is that what you would try to do with somebody?

Because it's a first-floor flat, it's quite a long way to fall.

If he'd have been a heavier bloke, we would have slid him down,

sort of, him facing me with my arm sort of around him,

hugging him, almost.

And I would have taken him down the ladder like that,

but he was such a light guy that I could actually put him

over my shoulder and just carry him down old school, if you like.

It sounds absolutely incredible work and I'm impressed.

I know this is what you do in your everyday lives, but you have,

I'm really glad to say, been given a commendation as well

for the work that you all did on that day.

Yeah, the whole watch were given a commendation just for our actions.

And does that make it even better

when you actually get that sort of reward as well?

Yeah, it's just a pat on the back, really,

but it's nice to be appreciated.

Absolutely. Well, thanks very much for coming to see us today as well.

-Great work, thank you.

-Nice to meet you.

Great effort, lads. Well done.

Now, none of the call-handlers here has the first idea

of what they're going to be faced with when the phone rings.

Now, one call came into this centre a few weeks ago.

A vehicle had gone out of control and caused major damage...

inside a shop.

Bizarre.

Ambulance technician Kevin Deverill

is on his way to a model aircraft shop near Portchester.

-Straight through that door there.

-Thank you.

And what's happened here?

He's got one of those mobility scooters

and he went to get out of it and it's run away from him

and he's fallen on the floor and he's stuck in the corner.

An 83-year-old man has been sent flying

when his mobility scooter got stuck in reverse.

Somehow I caught the reverse lever...

-Instead of forward?

-Instead of forwards,

and shot backwards and got thrown out.

When fellow customers tried to save him,

Ralph was jettisoned into the air,

hitting some shelving on the way down.

-I banged my head.

-That's enough, isn't it?

But if you look, I think you'll find

I don't think I'm in any problem that way,

-but something hit me in my back.

-OK.

Ralph, a retired RAF photographer,

may be a dab hand at steering remote-controlled aircraft,

but he's clearly not quite so good at scooter control.

-I think I'm OK...

-Ralph, let's just do a couple of things, all right?

First of all, just stay where you are.

Kevin's first concern is for a back injury.

It's just there, a bit sore. Ah!

That hurts, doesn't it?

-Give a bit of pressure.

-Well, that was only...

No? Oh, no, it's there. It's just there. I don't know what...

-It just sore.

-It's not your ribs, it's actually your spine.

Oh, my bloody hell.

Ralph already suffers from a spinal condition

that means two of his vertebrae have grown into hook shapes

after a motorbike accident over 50 years ago.

On a scale of one to ten, ten being quite uncomfortable,

when I pressed in on your back - be totally honest with me -

-how uncomfortable...

-About eight or nine, I should imagine.

-I think we need to get you checked out and x-rayed.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Are you OK with that?

-Yeah, they won't keep me in, will they?

If there's no damage, they're not going to keep you in.

Could we have a crew, please? Lovely, thank you very much.

Ralph bought his beloved mobility scooter with a small lottery win.

Now he's worrying how this news will go down at home with his wife.

What do you want us to tell her?

That my stick slipped and I fell and hit my back on a projection. Right?

-KEVIN LAUGHS

-I'm not getting involved in that.

-This is a plot.

-Yes, it's a plot.

By now, his powers of invention are in full flight.

Let me speak to her.

-All right.

-All right, love?

My stick slipped and I've got one of these emergency chappies

in the car and he says, well, you've got to go in for a check-up.

And I did bang my head, but there's nothing to be concerned about.

It must be the ferrule on the bottom of that stick.

Probably needs changing.

Anyway, I'm sorry about that.

You're good.

RALPH LAUGHS

I almost believed you for a moment then.

-You been married long?

-42 years.

-And she still believes you?

-I don't know!

But despite the laughter,

Kevin is worried that Ralph's oxygen levels are dipping.

All right, let's just give you a little bit of oxygen, nice and easy.

-All right?

-Right on cue, the paramedics arrive.

-Hi.

-Hello.

-Hello.

This is a young gentleman by the name of Ralph.

The problem will be protecting his back

while they get him into the ambulance.

We are really stuck in and wedged in there.

Fortunately, Ralph's air force training

means he's used to keeping calm in emergency situations.

I've covered a lot of incidents like this on camera.

He's going to need gas and air to help him kill the pain.

Is that making you a bit more out of breath?

-The pain is coming in my back now.

-Right, OK.

But inhaling is hurting more than it's helping.

My colleague here is going to support your neck, all right?

Without any pain relief,

moving Ralph on to the board is not going to be a pleasant experience.

-Right, nice and easy.

-RALPH GROANS

Keep your hands on your chest. Keep your hands on your chest.

All right, Ralph. Nice and easy. Then just move his back.

Nice and still.

On three - one, two, three.

-Turn to me.

-Oh, that does hurt.

-And then bring that in there.

OK, nice and relaxed, Ralph.

On board the ambulance,

he's busy briefing the crew about the mission ahead.

I've told her the story that my stick slipped and I fell.

Doesn't she like you being in your wheelchair?

-No, she don't.

-Right, OK.

Five minutes later, he's en route to hospital

and he fears a potentially tricky rendezvous with his wife.

So, was June fooled? We had to find out.

We caught up with the larger-than-life Ralph at home,

where he's made a complete recovery.

I was more worried that I wouldn't be allowed

to use the scooter any more.

And it turns out this wasn't his first mishap on the scooter.

You've got to be very careful.

If you drop it off the wrong side of the kerb, you can tip it over,

as I've found out.

I had about a dozen faces lying down there.

There was an empty van. They put the buggy in the van

and brought me home.

June says, "Oh, God, are you OK?" I tried to get away with that.

I tried to drive up, but when they got the van out

the electrics were soaked

and it took three blokes to push me up the hill.

It seems that it's not only vehicles Ralph has trouble with.

I'm afraid I'm accident prone.

My oldest boy is accident prone.

I won't go into that, but what happened to him is hilarious.

I don't have to go far. She bought me a pair of waders to look at a...

-HE CHUCKLES

-To look at a new mooring,

and I must have stepped in an old bomb hole on the shore.

So I sank up to there and it took two policemen,

two coastguards with an under-the-crotch lift to get me out.

Clearly, age can't keep a good man down.

I'm very active, I like to get around.

It's one thing to lose the use of the car,

it's another thing to lose the use of your lungs and your legs.

-And that buggy is very important.

-Ralph's philosophy is very simple.

Keep going, keep happy, keep June happy,

try not to get into scrapes and take it as it comes.

My homily - I think it's a homily - is,

what is, is and what's going to happen is going to happen,

but when it does happen, I don't like it.

That is it for Real Rescues this time.

-See you next time. Bye-bye.

-Bye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd