Paramedic crashes while on shout

24 August 2004

A PARAMEDIC was involved in a road accident on Monday while on emergency call-out to help the victims of another crash, writes EDEN BLACK.

The rapid response unit ended up sideways on top of a pedestrian crossing at the junction of New City Road and Barking Road, Plaistow, just after 11am.

The male driver was taken to Newham General Hospital with minor injuries, as was the man driving the Audi A3 also involved in the incident.

The paramedic had been on his way to East Ham where another car had been involved in an accident with a Canning Town-bound number 300 bus in Folkestone Road.

Injuries

The bus escaped relatively intact, though the car - a Vauxhall Carlton - had its entire front crumpled.

It is understood the male driver and a female passenger were taken by ambulance to Newham General with injuries.

Some bus passengers were slightly injured. Danielle Murray, 21, of Leigh Road, East Ham, who was on board with her two children and her younger siblings, said: "My sister Katy, who is 11, hit her arm on the handrail. My four-year-old brother won't go on a bus anymore."

Ambulance operations manager for Newham, Trevor Hubbard, who was at the Barking Road scene, said that bad weather could have played a part in both incidents.

In each of the accidents, police cordoned off the area affected and diverted local traffic until the scenes had been cleared.

Local residents in both areas where the crashes took place claimed their roads were accident hotspots.