A SCOOTER club has raised in excess of £4,000 for the air ambulance service that helped save the life of one of their members after a head-on collision with a car.
The Filth Hounds Scooter Club, based in Cumbria, organised a charity weekend in July 2024, including a ride out past the Great North Air Ambulance Service’s (GNAAS) base in Langwathby.
The significance of the ride out passing the base, is because on 28 May 2020, a critical care team from GNAAS came to the aid of scooterist Barry Tweddle from Haltwhistle, when he was involved in a collision on his way home from a ride out.
Recalling the incident, Barry said: “I decided to have a ride out into the countryside, on my Lambretta GP150. It had been a nice day and a beautiful afternoon for riding on the country lanes near to where I live”.
“I was on the B road that goes from Lambley to Haltwhistle and I had crossed over the South Tyne bridge and was going uphill and round the corner into a wooded area.”
As Barry was riding up the hill, three cars were travelling downhill on the opposite side of the road, however the driver of the last car changed lanes and collided with his scooter.
He said: “As I was passing the first two cars the third car came diagonally straight across the road. There was no time to react, there was no braking on anybody’s behalf, it was just basically a head-on collision.
“I can remember the impact and being airborne and then hitting the ground hard.”
Barry landed with his legs on the grass verge and his head and shoulders on the side of the road. He was in and out of consciousness and initially thought he wasn’t too badly hurt.
He said: “My thoughts were to get up and look for my scooter, but when I turned my head and I saw my leg the wrong way round I knew it was serious.”
A passerby who saw the aftermath of the incident, approached the scene and initially thought they might be witnessing a fatality.
Barry said: “This person that ran up the road to check on me, he told me (later) when I came close I thought I was going to witness a dead body as your bike was unrecognisable and in bits up in the embankment’.”
The emergency services were called and medics from the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) and GNAAS arrived on scene to treat Barry.
He said: “I can remember the helicopter circling over us and it landing in the field behind me. My whole body was broken, I had multiple open fractures to my right leg, (femur, tibia and fibula) there was barely anything holding my leg on. I’d broken my hip, most of my ribs and another open fracture to my right elbow. I also broke my left leg, my right foot was all smashed, and I broke my right thumb.”
After treatment on scene, Barry was flown to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle in 13 minutes, where he underwent surgery, however due to the severity of his injuries it was unclear whether he would survive.
He said: “My family came in and were told ‘you could be looking at the worst’, as I may not have survived the major trauma inflicted.”
The next risk was the possibility that Barry was going to lose his right leg, but after several surgeries, his leg was thankfully saved.
Barry spent a month in hospital before beginning a long recovery process at home.
He eventually sat back on a scooter approximately two years later, however he’s rarely on it now.
Following Barry’s incident, his friends from the Filth Hounds Scooter Club decided to organise a charity weekend, including a scooter ride out, and fundraising event which was held at Penrith RUFC, and raised £4,201.83 for GNAAS.
A spokesman for the Filth Hounds Scooter Club Charity Committee said: “I’d like to thank Penrith rugby club who gave us the room for free, the two bands who performed, Tarzans Nuts and The Acoustic Vandals, DJ Digger, and AST signs who supplied the stickers and banners.
“We had 160 people in attendance, including several scooter clubs from across the North of England. A big shoutout to everyone who donated and helped us raise more than £4,000 for GNAAS.”
Barry added: “I’m so grateful for the GNAAS’ help. I know all about the charity and I see the helicopter fly over my house regularly, but until you experience needing them and being treated by the team you don’t appreciate how vital this service is.”
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