Air ambulance called to Motocross crash

Unusually it was the Devon Air Ambulance which attended an accident at the Plymouth and East Cornwall Moto Cross Club event held at Brendon Farm, near Looe on Sunday, when a rider came off his machine and was suspected to have a spinal injury. Between 80 and 100 riders were racing.

Both the Cornwall Air Ambulance and the Devon and Cornwall Police Helicopter were employed elsewhere but the joint co-operation between the services meant the Devon Air Ambulance could be deployed over the border.

There were two St John Ambulances in attendance from Looe and Torpoint but they called another vehicle from the Ambulance Trust, because if one of their vehicles had left the grounds the whole event would have been cancelled due to insufficient first aid cover. However the paramedics who arrived considered it too dangerous to carry the casualty, who was on a back board with neck support, up from the bottom of the steep slope where the accident had occurred, so the decision was made to call the helicopter.

The rider was later released from Treliske Hospital, Truro, suffering only from cuts and bruises.