Episode 26 Helicopter Heroes

If you're critically ill or seriously injured, seconds count

and in Britain's biggest county

-you can be a long way from help.

-'She's stuck under the car!'

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance flies at 150mph and thanks to it, hundreds of patients are alive today,

saved by a highly-skilled team of doctors and paramedics.

Stand clear!

It covers some of the UK's most rugged landscapes,

-turning roadsides into operating theatres...

-Use an emergency anaesthetic.

-..and town centres into helipads.

-Just behind you, Tim.

Every day, the Helimed team's skill, speed and courage is saving lives.

Today on Helicopter Heroes:

a bus crashes and the team joins a major rescue operation.

A car's hit the front of the bus. The driver's seat is all collapsed.

As a teaching hospital, we do research studies.

The heart patient who's about to become a medical guinea pig.

A cave rescuer falls ill deep underground.

He's started being sick.

The Yorkshire branch...

And high in the Dales, Britain's oldest and toughest motorbike race claims another victim.

Every one of the UK's 15 ambulance services has a document they hope they'll never need.

The Major Incident Plan is a blueprint to deal with disaster

and the Helimed choppers are a vital part of it.

The Helimed team has to get used to responding in seconds to emergencies.

Today a routine flight to back up a ground ambulance is about to change dramatically.

Helimed 99, receiving?

-Yeah, receiving.

-Divert to Wakefield.

That's a car and a bus. There's two patients trapped in a car,

one trapped on the bus. Believed six injured.

Six casualties. Three serious head injuries.

The head-on crash happened on a suburban road near the village of Crofton.

Most of the victims are shoppers returning home. The car was carrying three young men.

Luckily, no one was in this shelter.

They've requested both helicopters. The others are en route as well.

If you think you need three, let me know when you're on scene.

For paramedics Darren Axe and Darrel Cullen, it'll draw on years of training.

Is that the incident just down there?

-I think so. There's emergency service vehicles.

-No sign of wires. I'll go for a landing.

There's one man has got

a very bad cut head, a few shaken up, but apparently the bus driver is trapped under the bus.

The car driver, there's nothing left of his car. They're cutting him out.

It's a chaotic scene. Firefighters are trying to reach the bus driver who is unconscious.

Many of her passengers were elderly.

Most were thrown from their seats in the impact, but the young men in the car came off worst.

-Two are still trapped.

-Hang on, mate. Has he moved at all?

-We need him out now. We're getting this door off.

-Fantastic.

Fire crews have freed the 20-year-old front passenger. He has serious head injuries.

But that's not all.

His chest sounds aren't great.

I'm assuming he was front seat passenger.

Just so that I know the seatbelt were worn or anything.

We'll get him on board and on the aircraft, ready to go.

98, 99 are on scene. There's plenty of room to land in the field opposite the incident.

We'll probably go to LGI.

The two other men in the car are very badly hurt. The rear passenger was thrown forward.

The driver is crushed. They are both in and out of consciousness, have broken limbs and head injuries.

Everything is being done to keep them alive.

They're saying he's urgent. If we could get him out first, we can bring him out this way.

He's got to come out, mate, so let's just get him.

More back-up is needed fast. Both these men need to be freed and airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary

-as soon as possible.

-Oxygen's on and fully running.

Just do another pressure.

Get him strapped on, mate. That'll be great.

-Just wondering the ETA for the other crew, Andy.

-I'll get on to Dave.

Dave, it's Andy.

- Go ahead. - Have you got an ETA for 98?

Yeah, roger. They should be 3-4 minutes. They're into a headwind.

Yeah, copy that. The lads are working quite hard.

'We'll try to get one of them packaged, ready for 98.'

It's really chaotic at the moment.

We're strapped for resources, but the other air ambulance is coming.

We've got one casualty packaged, but it may be best to take them.

Down there. At 11 o'clock.

We've got blue flashing lights, a large tailback of traffic.

We'll take this guy out as soon as we have enough access there. A rapid extrication, all right?

Have you got any more portable oxygen? Can we have it? And an oxygen mask, please.

-You're over the trees to the rear, Ian.

-Thank you.

-All clear.

-I'll get you fairly close to this one.

-The rear seat passenger was catapulted into the windscreen.

He has a head injury, but paramedic Darren fears he may also have fractured his neck.

He'd like to safeguard his spine, but today safety must be sacrificed for speed if he's to live.

Just sit him up towards you and then lay him back.

Then we can bring his leg through.

Until the rear passenger is out, they cannot free the driver.

Keep still, chief. We're just going to give you some oxygen. Keep still.

He's going to come out feet-first.

Bend his knee. He's got a broken lower leg.

-I want him to come this way now, Ryan.

-Start moving him this way.

I need a splint, mate, for his leg.

-Both of them.

-Two splints.

Just rest him.

Paramedics are trained to prioritise the most seriously injured patients

in a process called triage,

but in accidents like this it's especially difficult.

The front passenger is thought to be the most critical case, so he will fly first.

-Have you all got him?

-Paramedics measure consciousness on a scale of 3-15

on the Glasgow Coma Scale or the GCS.

He's GCS 3 at the moment, so he's deeply unconscious.

He's got a head injury, chest injuries and abdominal injuries.

They've gone off to Leeds General Infirmary with our first casualty.

There's still somebody trapped in the car and another casualty that they're still trying to stabilise.

The first patient's survival is in real doubt.

The Helimed team must turn its attention to the other survivors. Their prospects are equally bleak.

Would you know if you were suffering a heart attack? Doctors say too few of us will recognise the signs.

Symptoms range from crushing chest pains to mild discomfort

and the latest research shows that women often experience different warning signs from men.

Anywhere, a heart attack is a killer, but in a remote area like the Yorkshire Dales

it is particularly deadly.

30% of all deaths in the UK are caused by heart disease.

Helimed 99, we're looking to depart for Ingleton.

Today, paramedics on the ground and in the air are racing to prevent another patient becoming

one of those statistics.

Helimed 99. Estimated time of arrival is 10.58.

10.58, over.

Helimed 99 is heading up into the Three Peaks, the most rugged part of the Dales,

-where a woman is fighting for her life.

-She came into my house and complained of chest pains.

The doctor had told her to phone an ambulance, which I did.

We have reports of a 71-year-old young lady

who's had pains in her back and chest. The crew have identified that she's having a heart attack.

If their patient is to survive, she needs speedy hospital treatment

and up here that means going by air.

-How long do you think it'll take to drive in?

-That area, about an hour 40.

-It's all single-track roads.

-How long will it take us to fly back?

-About 20 minutes?

-20 minutes.

Local paramedics have beaten the Helimed team.

-How are you feeling now?

-I've felt better!

-You've felt better?

We're going to take you to the helicopter.

71-year-old Ruth Goldsack was just getting out of the shower when she started to feel unwell.

-Is it Leeds General that have accepted her?

-Yes.

Any previous cardiac history?

Ruth's wired up to an ECG monitoring system showing the unmistakable signs of a heart attack.

The blood supply to her heart muscle is being reduced by a clot.

Her heart is being starved of oxygen and is failing.

If the crew can get Ruth to hospital quickly, the blockage can be cleared and the heart will recover.

If not, Ruth could go into cardiac arrest. If that happens, this pad will allow her rescuers

-to shock her heart back into a normal rhythm.

-Have you got pain in your back?

-I'll give you gas and air.

-I don't need that.

-It'll take the pain away and relax things.

Breathe this for a couple of minutes. Just breathe as normal and suck on that as you breathe.

OK? That's it. Just like that.

Paramedics Sammy and Andy are so concerned about her condition,

they decide they will both travel in the back of the helicopter.

If Ruth's heart stops during the flight, she will need both of them to keep her alive.

-She is suffering crushing chest pain...

-All right, love?

-..the most common symptom of a heart attack.

-Are you all right? Ruth?

-Heart patients often suffer a feeling of impending doom.

It's distressing and the only antidote they can give her is reassurance.

Just 20 minutes after taking off from the Dales, Ruth is now moments from specialist care.

In the Cath Lab, doctors are waiting for her arrival.

-They have the skill to save her life, but Ruth can also help them.

-You're having a heart attack.

That's what you're having. We need to open up the blocked artery which is the reason for it.

Because this is a teaching hospital, we often do research studies.

We're involved in studies trying to find better ways to treat patients having heart attacks.

She's being asked to volunteer to become a medical guinea pig.

They've just prepared her for in the theatre. She's going to have an investigation

where they make an incision in the leg and thread catheters up into the heart.

They can inject dye and get an accurate picture of what's blocked.

Instead of just opening out the blocked artery, the LGI team is experimenting

in treating all the arteries in the heart at once.

It's thought this may save thousands more lives.

The purpose is to see whether we can improve patients' outcomes

by looking at patients with more than one problem in the arteries.

Do we need to just fix the blockage

compared to fixing all of the narrowings and blockages simultaneously at the same time?

Really the evidence is unclear as to what is the best way to go. That's the purpose of doing a trial.

A month later and Ruth is back at home and making a good recovery.

Despite a history of heart problems in her family, she had no idea she had a heart condition

-and was suffering a heart attack.

-It felt like a heavy weight, like a brick on my chest.

I thought it was indigestion. I did suffer with that quite a bit,

but when I got the pains in the back and then my arms,

alarms started to go off. And then the sweating.

I'm not a sweaty person anyway. That's when I rang the doctor.

I realised things weren't right.

Ruth's heart attack gave her a scare and made her aware that her lifestyle may have been to blame,

so ever since her surgery she has undergone another life-changing operation.

My daughter has cleared all my fridge, my freezer and my cupboard of all sweets,

cakes and biscuits and fatty things

so that I can't eat them any more. And I have lost weight!

The pioneering heart operation Ruth underwent seems to have given her a new lease of life.

Surgeons believe she was at high risk of another heart attack.

One artery was blocked completely and another artery had a 99% critical narrowing in.

So she was perfect for the trial. She had multi-vessel disease.

But the actual procedure itself is not painful at all.

Usually what we see is that immediately we open the artery, patients feel dramatically better

and make a very quick improvement, in front of our eyes often.

Ruth has no regrets taking part in the medical trial.

I have got family and very close friends

that have had heart problems this year. And I feel

that maybe doing this study will help other people in the future

because it's more common than you actually realise. If I can help in some small way, I will.

The Helimed team meets some inspiring people,

patients who smile through pain or overcome disability to fulfil their dreams,

but the raw courage of one man the paramedics met in the summer puts many of us to shame.

Deep under the rolling Yorkshire Dales is a secret world known only to the most adventurous visitors.

This is caving country.

Every weekend, hundreds of potholers find their thrills down here.

When it all goes wrong, it's men like Ralph Johnson who are here to help.

He's a veteran of cave rescue.

I've been in cave rescue for 40-odd years now.

I've been a controller for about 30 years. I just get on with it.

People say, "How many times have you been on a rescue?" I don't know.

"How many people have you rescued?" I don't know. I don't dwell on it. I just do it and then go home.

He's 71 now and he knows his days down here are numbered.

He was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He's been told that he has three months to live.

And today Ralph is the one who's being rescued.

He's collapsed and become trapped underground. Mountain Rescue and Helimed 99 are on their way.

Is it just clever cloud?

That one on the left looks like it could be cloud surrounding it.

It's a race against time.

The sun is going down and there's thick fog on its way. They need to get to Ralph quickly.

Ralph is deep underground. Paramedics Graham and Leon know that as well as his medical condition,

hypothermia is a real risk.

They started going down this series of vertical pitches in here.

-Yeah.

-Went down two of them, knew he was feeling unwell, felt weak.

-He managed to make his own way back up to the second pitch.

-Is it safe for me to peek over the edge?

The locations of many of the caving systems round here are very difficult

and it's easy to walk in, but very difficult when somebody is injured and we get the stretcher.

So it takes a lot of personnel for an underground incident.

Ralph will have to be carefully manhandled through passages he's explored for decades.

To get Ralph out will take stamina and skill.

You see the bottom of the limestone there. There's a hole and there's a pitch which is about 30 foot high.

He's on the bottom of that pitch.

But paramedic Graham knows there's a problem looming.

It's really foggy at Leeds and on the way over here

as the sun goes down Leeds Bradford will fog in again.

He doesn't want to leave here any later than quarter to four.

Many of Ralph's rescuers know him. Some were trained by him. Many cavers owe their lives to him,

so this is payback time.

He's still just inside the cave. It's about 30 feet down, but not far along.

He's not very well. They've stopped because he's feeling very unwell.

He's vomiting fairly copiously by the sound of it.

Basically, I'm concerned now that he might start to get dehydrated.

Just being sick itself makes you feel unwell, and also what the cause of that is.

I want to get him out as quick as I can.

Rescue teams have located Ralph and he's on his way up while Steve manoeuvres Helimed 99 to the cave.

At last, Ralph reaches daylight.

The after effects of his last chemotherapy session left him feeling dizzy and disorientated,

lethal symptoms in some caves where 100-foot rock faces are not uncommon.

We've relocated the helicopter in this field.

Ralph's exploits as a rescuer are well-known in the potholing world,

but today he has to take a back seat.

So we're pretty much all right for time. It's just the weather, isn't it?

The team wants Ralph to be examined in hospital, but fog is closing in fast in the Vale of York.

This could threaten his flight to A&E in Harrogate.

OK there, Ralph?

-Yeah? Just feeling grotty?

-Yeah.

-Not as bad as I was.

-Right. Are you warm enough?

-A little bit cold.

-A little bit?

Dave, lifted en route to Harrogate.

The plan is to get to Harrogate, but we may have to route to yourself if the weather closes in, over.

Pilot Steve doesn't like what he sees ahead. It may look clear,

but there's fog on the horizon which is a serious hazard when travelling at 150mph.

You can see the fog. This is the Vale, isn't it?

Like a big strip the whole way up.

Like a wall, isn't it?

We can't get through to Harrogate.

Steve is forced to abort the flight to Harrogate A&E, so he's diverting to Leeds Bradford Airport

to await a ground ambulance.

Just let me stand up. Yeah? Come here.

For Ralph, it's time for tea and a chat with the rescue team

as he waits for an ambulance to drive him into hospital.

This isn't how Ralph or his rescuers thought his journey would end,

but you can't beat the weather.

Ralph spends 24 hours in St James Hospital before he's sent home to enjoy the rest of his life.

It's not long before Ralph is back potholing. He's determined that his advanced pancreatic cancer

won't stop him and today he's buying steel joists for a cave he's climbing down later.

I just made a decision when I was given the diagnosis that there's no point worrying

about things you can do nothing about. Sitting feeling miserable. Get on with life. Enjoy every day.

Two weeks ago I was down a cave in Yorkshire. Last weekend I was in Poland down the salt mines.

Today I'm on my way to Derbyshire with some steel to repair a cave that's in danger of collapse.

I've had, what, 54 years caving. A really good time. Caved all over the world.

So I'll carry on as long as I can.

Hopefully, without being rescued again.

He's rescued hundreds of people stuck underground in his lifetime

and now he's had his turn.

Embarrassing.

No doubt I'll have to live that down somehow.

It'll cost me a few pints of beer when I get up to Yorkshire again.

Let's return now to that serious crash in West Yorkshire,

where a car smashed into the front of a busy bus.

The floor of the bus collapsed and the driver fell onto the road where she's now trapped.

One of the three occupants of the car is already on his way to Leeds,

but the driver is still trapped and the other passenger barely alive.

Fire crews are trying to cut the bus driver out of her wrecked vehicle.

She lay unnoticed for several minutes after the crash, despite the accident being witnessed

by dozens of people on a busy suburban road.

I was driving behind the bus and this black car came round the corner,

careered onto the wrong side of the road, straight into the bus.

Then I just stopped, otherwise I'd have hit the back of the bus.

On board the bus were a mother and baby and more than a dozen elderly passengers.

Two of the eleven patients have quite bad head injuries. One's collapsed.

The driver is the one they are treating as very serious.

The Fire Brigade are trying to cut her out as we speak.

The other members of the bus have been quite lucky. They have cuts from flying glass,

banging their heads against the poles. They might have minor fractures, but apart from that,

hopefully they'll be all right.

Back at the wrecked car, the rear passenger's condition is critical.

Hi blood pressure is low. They fear he's bleeding internally from two broken legs.

-Where was he?

-He was the rear passenger, ejected forward.

Both femurs looked all right. Lower legs are not.

Watch your heads, chaps. Just duck.

Helimed 99 is about to take off for Leeds General Infirmary.

10 miles away, the hospital's helipad team is about to unload the front seat passenger from 98.

He hit the dash with such force, he has a critical brain injury.

OK, lads. Can somebody get this end?

99, roger. 98 have just landed at LGI.

The aircraft's going to return with Dave Appleby, over.

Thanks to the airbag, the driver is the least injured, but he is still unconscious and bleeding.

He will need to be prepared for flight. The rear passenger is on Helimed 99

on the way to the LGI.

Those who saw their car crash were shocked.

I just saw these boys in the front. I just hope they're all right.

Now all the attention is on the bus driver, still trapped under her cab.

Fire crews are having difficulty getting her out and her condition is getting worse with every minute.

Every year, the Yorkshire Dales is the background to one of the toughest races in motorsport.

The Scott Trial pits rider and machine against an 84-mile course

across unforgiving moorland.

Hundreds of bikers have turned out for this year's trial.

It's a tradition that dates back almost a century.

The Yorkshire branch of the Auto-cycle Union

holds its 17th annual trial for the Scott trophy.

By the time the competitors plough through 15 miles of assorted frightfulness of muddy moor,

they will feel like taking the chap who designed the course and ducking him.

Today, flat hats and tweed have been replaced by helmets and body armour,

but the hazards were the same 80 years ago.

Only 20 out of the 80 entered finished the course.

But the response to an accident is rather faster today.

Helimed 98 is on its way to the remote part of the course. A biker has come off at high speed.

You all right, mate?

Course marshals alerted ground paramedics and now the Helimed team will take over his treatment.

He's hit that boulder behind you, gone over the handlebars. He was going some speed.

18-year-old Matthew Maynard was riding across this field when he hit a rock.

He's broken his leg badly.

It requires surgery, despite him wearing all the right protective gear.

He's in a lot of pain.

-Just keep going on that, mate.

-Just cut it, mate.

But he's not alone today. Helimed 99, too, has been called to the trial course.

Is that 98 at two o'clock?

Oh, yeah, it is. Hey, look at that.

We're going to a motocross meet for a biker with, apparently, two broken arms.

It sounds like it's been a bit of a chaotic racing meet to have two helicopters in.

Rider 17, another young lassie from the local Richmond club is Robyn Alderson...

Half an hour ago, 20-year-old Robyn Alderson was one of the few women riders starting the trial.

It's her second attempt. She comes from a biking family and her dad has won the Scott trophy,

but today she's riding for a fall.

Robyn's day has ended in a course ambulance. She has two broken wrists

sustained when she went over her handlebars.

I did it a couple of years ago. I got about halfway and thought I'd have another go,

but obviously it wasn't meant to be this year.

-Robyn, how does that hand feel?

-It's not so bad, really.

-As I take this off, if it becomes bad, say.

-Yeah.

-And we'll stop.

Robyn crashed in such a remote location she'd to walk to get help.

-You walked a mile?

-Er, yeah, it will have been.

-About that.

-And climbed a gate.

How did you get over a gate? Did you just have to...?

-It's just like one of those gates out there.

-So you got over without using your hands.

The 84-mile trial is broken into 75 sections. On each part, the rider is scored.

They get marks for speed and skill. Put your foot on the ground and you lose marks.

The Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team has been busy

as this year's course is particularly tough.

It's the weather. It's been wet everywhere, so it's very muddy, boggy.

Probably difficult to manage the motorcycles.

Robyn is ready to be airlifted to hospital. By all accounts, she'll be back next year.

-See you, Robyn!

-Thanks very much! Bye!

-Bye!

I've been well impressed by the way she's not made a fuss at all.

They are hardy stock. She's gone over the handlebars and probably broken two arms,

but her biggest fear was the needle when I cannulated her, which made us laugh.

-Can you hear me now?

-Back at the other crash site, there's a problem.

There's nothing like technology(!)

Paramedic Darren's having to communicate with the Ambulance Service via space.

We're in the bottom of a valley,

so we're having difficulty in getting any kind of communication. The radio's down,

there's no mobile phone signal. I'm trying the satellite phone.

Matthew's family have arrived.

They know how dangerous the Scott Trial is.

It's his second time of competing in it. Last year he finished 46th, which was very good.

He just wanted to do it again, but it's gone a bit pear-shaped across a field with a stone in it.

Now that Matthew and Robyn are heading for A&E,

land paramedics are freed up. It looks like a busy day.

-Think of the hot cups of tea you'll have to take now!

-Just feed him in to Daz.

Rest him there, chaps. Keep hold of him. Feed him round.

Both the Helimed teams' patients are flown to James Cook hospital in Middlesbrough.

A&E staff realise both Robyn and Matthew were friends

who were both unaware the other had also failed to finish the trial.

I went straight into A&E

and had all my x-rays and whilst they were taking me to the ward,

Matt was on the next ward. They wheeled me on in my bed

and we had a chat for a few moments about what had happened

and then I was taken into the ward.

But we managed to text each other and finding more out about what had happened.

Unfortunately, Matt was in a bit longer than I was.

Matthew underwent major surgery to rebuild his leg.

They put two screws and a pin all the way down my leg. And two screws at the bottom of it.

I've got a lot of titanium in my leg.

It's now eight weeks since the trial and Robyn has made a good recovery.

She's at home in her dad's shed, raring to get back in the saddle.

'I started riding when I was about 13 and I had a go on my dad's bike. I got quite interested

'and got one for Christmas.'

My dad rode for a number of years, my uncle and I've got three cousins that ride as well.

Like most victims of the trial, Robyn has no one to blame for her crash but herself

and the treacherous local landscape.

I was on a straight bit of track. That's the most embarrassing thing.

It wasn't even a hard part of the course. I came across a ditch

and somehow managed to get off the track slightly onto that.

I couldn't get slowed up in time. I went straight into it, straight over the handlebars

and that was the end of that!

Matthew is still not able to ride. His leg was very badly broken.

-Hello! Are you all right?

-Not too bad. You?

-Well, thank you.

At least both riders are now fit enough to compare their scars

and plan their next assault on the Scott.

It's known as one of the hardest one-day trials there is to do.

It's the one trial that everybody wants to get round,

just because it's so tough. It's a shame I was only 6 or 7 miles into it when I had a big crash.

That was the end of me for this year.

Both Robyn and Matt are already planning their next races, undeterred by their injuries.

They feel a lot better than they did a few months ago,

but I think I've got a long way to go before I'll be back riding a trial.

I'm looking forward to getting back onto the bike and doing a lot more competitions this year.

There's a six-day trial I want to be fit for and do the British Championships.

These fellows say they do it for fun. I wouldn't do it for £1,000!

Watchers get as wet as the riders. The only way to keep clean is to stand half a mile away.

Riders in the UK's toughest bike race have suffered the same injuries as Matt and Robyn for 80 years.

But the accident toll has done little to put off riders.

They'll be lining up for another Scott Trial later this year.

Now back to West Yorkshire where nine people are already on their way to A&E

after a serious crash, but the Helimed team's attention is now on the bus driver,

badly injured as she stopped to pick up passengers.

Trapped under her own bus, 61-year-old June Place was very lucky to survive the impact.

The floor beneath her seat gave way and she fell onto the road below.

It was 10 minutes before the first rescuers found her. Now more than an hour later,

she has at last been freed.

June was so badly crushed, her legs and pelvis are broken in many places.

-So we're querying pelvis, femur...

-We think pelvis more likely.

We've open left ankle...

June is the fourth serious casualty from the scene.

Another six of her passengers were also injured. She is secured, heavily sedated and on morphine,

so ready to be transported to hospital.

10 miles away, at Leeds General Infirmary,

the rear passenger of the car is now minutes from treatment.

Managers have declared the accident a major incident. All available staff have been called to A&E.

As they start work, paramedic Darren can at last relax.

That's been the biggest one for a couple of months.

Unfortunately, I seem to be a magnet for this kind of thing. I've done quite a lot of it.

There are dozens of trauma specialist seeing to the patients.

Basics doctor is on scene, Ambulance Service, Fire Service, Police.

It's a massive thing and that's before you get into Emergency

and the patients are now treated by the doctors in here.

The teams that are in the department here are really keyed-up for trauma now.

Obviously, this tests out the systems they've got in place and it's working really well.

June is in and out of consciousness, but is in a stable condition.

The question is will Leeds be able to cope with another emergency patient?

Air desk from 98. Patient is loaded on the helicopter.

We've just received information that 99 has gone to LGI.

Are they able to accept another patient?

'They're happy to accept her. Over.'

The last critically-injured patient from the bus crash is about to take off for hospital.

An hour ago, June Place was stopping to pick up passengers in a community that is now in shock.

It's a long, fast road. The sign's there.

-Reduce speed.

-People don't bother about the speed they're going.

But at Leeds General Infirmary, there's a problem.

The helipad can't take two helicopters. Pilot Andy Lister must quickly take off

to make way for Helimed 98 with bus driver June on board.

All right, guys? Some multiple fractures...

Within a minute, she's on her way to A&E.

Tough job, that one. Two are critically injured.

This lady's stable at the moment,

but, yeah, it's been a tough job. Yeah.

Consultants are already planning the treatment for all three Helimed patients.

That night, the LGI's operating theatres are busy as a team of orthopaedic surgeons begins work.

Two weeks later and bus driver June is still in hospital.

-Hiya.

-Hello, love.

-Would you like a tea or coffee?

-Tea, one sugar, please.

June has undergone extensive surgery to rebuild her crushed leg

and has been told it will be months before she can walk again, let alone drive a bus.

-Lovely. Thank you very much, yeah.

-Enjoy.

I've been a bus driver for...

I think roughly about 16... 15 or 16 years.

It was the 149 service to Wakefield, which would have been my finishing trip.

All I remember is seeing a car and I think I probably said,

"What the...is happening?!"

And I don't remember anything about the crash, the impact or anything.

I heard them say, "We're going to get you out now, June."

And then wondering, "Out of where? Where am I?" I felt the fresh air on my face as they got me out,

which felt nice, you know. The next thing I remember is somebody...

asking me where I hurt. "Can we have your arm to put a line in?"

Just take that off for a second.

I knew I was being put on a helicopter. I didn't see it.

But I could hear the engine, the blades, I don't know, when we lifted off.

It didn't seem two minutes before we were coming down again.

It's common for victims of trauma to block out memories of a serious accident.

All they are left with are their injuries as a reminder.

The injuries I received... If we start from the top, I had the scapula, your shoulder blade,

and five broken ribs,

and then this arm, I think it was an open fracture to the radius and ulna,

which is the two bones there.

And then, on the right leg is an open fracture,

round about the ankle area.

And what this frame is doing is holding all the bone in line.

June considers herself lucky to be alive and believes she owes her life to the emergency services.

Without them, I wouldn't be here. That's without a doubt.

I think they...

They were professional in every aspect.

Although I couldn't see, I could hear.

I could hear what they were saying to me, reassuring me

and telling me everything. "Don't worry." And getting me on that helicopter into LGI

in no time. No time at all.

I don't think I'd have been here. That is without a doubt.

And I just can't thank them enough. Honestly.

I'm pleased to tell you June is continuing to make a good recovery

and she's hopeful that she'll soon be fit enough to get back behind the wheel.

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