A BURNHAM football coach was faced with a real life emergency when he came across a car crash just hours after completing a life-saving training course.


Richie Crook, who trains the Burnbridge Wanderers JFC under 10s at Oak Tree Arena, helped save the life of a man inside the vehicle – putting into practice the skills he had learnt on an emergency first aid course the day before.


He was driving to work at around 5.30am on the A40 between Cheltenham and Oxford last Wednesday, when the driver of a Mitsubishi in front of him veered to the other side of the road before colliding with a tree.


Richie stopped and managed to open the car door where he found the man slumped at the wheel and having some kind of seizure.


The 37-year-old told the Weekly News: “He looked in a bad way. He had two black eyes and was having a fit or a seizure which meant he had stopped breathing.

Another car had stopped and the driver helped me put him in the recovery position to open his airways to get him breathing again.


“The driver slipped in and out of consciousness but in the end he was talking. It took nearly 30 minutes for the ambulance to arrive so we talked to him.

He told me he was recently married with a four-year-old son. He panicked when he woke up and saw strangers in front of him but we reassured him.”


The drama happened the day after Richie had gone on a Somerset Football Association emergency first aid course. Richie said it was good timing as having learned life-saving skills only the day before meant had had known just what to do.


He added: “The man was certainly lucky as he veered over into what could have been oncoming traffic but the road was clear.

Not long before articulated lorries had gone past which could have killed him.
“Also I had just done this course as part of my training as a coach for Burnbridge  under 10s so I knew how to stay calm and put my skills into action. 


“I was in the right place but I wouldn’t say I was a hero. There was someone who helped me. However I told the man that a guardian angel must have been watching over him when he woke up - as it could have been much worse.”