A quick-thinking hero driver used his lorry to save the life of a man having a stoke behind the wheel of his van.
Russell Dagless, 53, used his lorry to trap the van after seeing the driver slumped over as his car bounced along the central reservation of the A47 near Dereham, Norfolk.
And the whole thing was caught on dashcam footage from another lorry.
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Other drivers are then seen getting out of a car slowing behind Russell and running to help give the unconscious driver first aid, writes the Telegraph.
Police officers said Russell’s actions saved the driver’s life.
Russell, who is from Norwich, said:
Something had to be done, looking back at it, it just seemed the natural thing to do at the time, so the dangerous side didn’t really fall into my mind.
The guy had to be brought to halt – what you see on the video was the last part of it – when we first came across him he was travelling a lot faster.
This guy was seriously, seriously, lucky for the people who were around him.
He was already up against the barrier when I came across him, there was several cars in front who undertook the incident and disappeared which then allowed me to pull up beside him.
Russell said the man was ‘absolutely collapsed’ and had his head was ‘down below the steering wheel’.
He added:
The two guys who were following us were first aiders, they obviously knew more first aid than myself and at that point I stood back.
Just after that a fireman turned up who had better first aid training and five minutes after that a young lady turned up who was an off-duty paramedic.
Russell remains humble, despite now being given one of the highest awards from the Royal Humane Society for putting his life on the line to save the man’s life. Rightly so!
He said:
He could have died. I’m not going to go on the band wagon and say what we did absolutely saved his life but between all of us what happened definitely improves his chances of survival.
Hero is a very, very strong word, I just had the right leg on at the exact right point.
It’s very nice to have recognition for what you do when I was first told about it I thought it would just be a certificate, I didn’t realise the enormity of the award I was being given.
Dick Wilkinson, secretary of the Royal Humane Society, praised Russell saying the whole thing was like a ‘scene from an all-action movie’.
He said:
It showed incredible courage and resourcefulness to instantly assess the scene and take the action he did.
This incident could have resulted in carnage but instead no-one was hurt and only two vehicles were involved, thanks to the amazing action of Mr Dagless. He richly deserves the award.
What a hero!
