Daughter ‘eternally grateful’ for father’s dramatic rescue

A woman has said she will be ‘eternally grateful’ to the paramedics who rushed her father to hospital after he fell from scaffolding on Tuesday.

Ambulance crews were called to Fleming Avenue at around 10am to reports that a man had fallen from a height.

The man, in his sixties, had been working in his daughter’s garden at the time of the incident.

His daughter, who did not want the family identified, said: “Our sincere gratitude to the paramedics who took only four minutes to turn up, and the air ambulance crew were just as fantastic.

“[We] couldn’t have wished for better service and we will all be eternally grateful to each and every one of them.”

A crowd of neighbours and passers-by gathered around as the helicopter landed, which had to be dispersed by police to allow it to take off again.

Eyewitness Claire Baker, from nearby Drakes Avenue, said: “After a couple of laps the [air ambulance crew] found a small landing area in Lockyer Avenue.

“Considering the space the helicopter landed in is very small, the pilot must have been fantastic – considering he avoided cars, lampposts, trees and people.

“Upon landing the first aid crew rushed to the incident. At 11am the helicopter took off again with great skill.”

The casualty was taken to Derriford Hospital with a suspected skull fracture.