A surviving crewman of an ambulance which crashed in the New Forest and killed his colleague is to scale Mount Kilimanjaro.
Ambulance crewman Richard Riley suffered life-changing injuries in a high-speed crash while driver, Gillian Randall, 42, (below) and the patient, 88-year-old Francis Ironside, both died.
The ambulance was on its way to Southampton General Hospital and travelling at about 70mph when it left the road and smashed into a tree.
Richard was tending to Mr Ironside in the back of the vehicle and was not strapped in, leaving him with a catalogue of injuries that included four fractured ribs, a punctured lung and a broken back that had to be rebuilt using titanium rods.
He says he was lucky to survive the accident – and equally fortunate not to have been paralysed.
Now, having battled his way back to fitness, he is hoping to raise at least £4,000 for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance Service, which helped to save his life, by scaling Mount Kilimanjaro.
The 34-year-old, of Bransgore, went to his local primary school yesterday to tell pupils about the expedition and show them a replica of an air ambulance cockpit.
The accident happened on the A337 near Brockenhurst on April 27, 2013.
Richard made a remarkable recovery and was discharged from hospital just two weeks later.
“I can’t remember anything about the accident itself,” he said.
“I can recall going to bed the night before and the next thing I remember is waking up in intensive care, staring at the ceiling and thinking it was a dream.”
Richard was well enough to attend Gillian’s funeral in May 2013 but is still off work.
“I’m physically fit but have cognitive issues – short-term memory loss and concentration problems,” he said.
His 19,000ft trek to the top of Kilimanjaro is due to take place next month.
Richard said: “I needed a goal otherwise I might have sat at home all day doing nothing.
“The main thing that concerns me is altitude sickness. We’re doing a staged ascent, which has a 90 per cent success rate.”
Following the crash Richard Husband, 26, of New Forest Drive, Brockenhurst, was cleared of two charges of causing death by careless driving.
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