Miracle escape for storm survivor
Published: February 9, 2007
A motorcyclist who was badly injured by a falling tree in January’s storms has no memory of the accident.
John Battley, 62, was struck when a 70ft poplar tree was uprooted last Thursday as winds of up to 60mph caused chaos in Marlow its surrounding villages.
Fire fighters said he was lucky to survive.
The self-employed motorcycle courier had just delivered a package to Holmes and Marchant graphics in Station Road at around 1pm.
He was sitting astride his bike in the car park at the rear of the building when the tree fell hitting is head and trapping underneath branches.
Jon Franklin, crew manager of High Wycombe fire station, said: “We were on our way back from attending another incident in Marlow when we got the call.
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“He was lying on the ground with the bike on top of him. He had serious head injuries and we really didn’t think he was going to make it.”
The air ambulance was unable to take off in the strong winds. Approximately an hour later he was taken to Wexham hospital where he remained until Saturday.
His stepson Jason Cox, 34, said John, has no recollection of the accident since losing consciousness before undergoing an emergency operation.
He said: “John’s a very strong man. It’s a miracle he survived and he is making a miraculous recovery.
“When he went into hospital he had serious head injuries, but they took him into theatre to clean him up and they couldn’t find anything wrong.
“He was awake just after the accident, but not when they took him to the intensive care unit. After theatre they put him into a coma to recover.
“He’d just delivered a package to Holmes and Marchant. He doesn’t remember anything after that.”
Some witnesses believe John, pictured, who is from Harlow, Essex, was sitting on his bike eating lunch when the accident happened. He was not wearing a crash helmet at the time.
Jason added: “The doctors said it could have been even more dangerous if he was wearing his helmet because the weight it could have done damage to his neck.”
An employee of Velo vehicle leasing and fleet management, which has offices next door to Holmes and Marchant, said: “A number of us heard the tree going down. We could see it was covering several cars but we didn’t think anyone had been caught in its path. We realised when we saw the staff from next door and the fire brigade. They had to cut the man out from underneath the tree branches.”
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