“I thought I was a goner!” - Preston's Story

In November 2023, Preston Nicol-Hinde experienced a life-threatening accident that changed his life forever. Here, Preston recounts the night his car lost control, flipped into a ditch, and filled with muddy water, leaving him trapped underwater, unable to undo his seatbelt.

A Terrifying Ordeal

incident scene

In November last year, I suffered the most tragic event, one that I never want to experience again. It was the day after I had come back from a big family holiday in Egypt and I decided to catch up with friends. It was about 7.30pm and I was driving; it was a rainy night and the roads were really wet. I went over a bridge and all of a sudden, I lost control. The car spun and barrel-rolled out of control, hitting a verge before ending upside down, wedged in a deep ditch full of dirty water. With all the windows smashed, the car filled up with water within seconds.

My friends managed to escape and flagged down a passing car driver who I would like to thank for calling the emergency services. To this day, I don’t know who you are.

While submerged in the ditch, I can remember my friends trying to release me, but with no luck. At this point, I thought I was a goner! I couldn’t undo my seatbelt, although I was pulling it as hard as I could in the dark underwater. I managed to pull it enough so that I could turn myself upright, but I was still buckled in. It looked like the only option was that I would need to drink the dirty water and hope for the best. I managed to wedge my head between the pedals and create a small air pocket; how I knew how to do this, I will never know, it was just instinct. The water was freezing cold and that is when I fell unconscious…

The Rescue

It was about 50 minutes before I was extracted from the wreckage by the crew from the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. I don’t remember being pulled out, but I do remember being on a stretcher by the air ambulance team as they cared for me. Fortunately, one of the crew found my phone in the field and called my parents; a call that no parent wants to receive. I was one very lucky boy to be alive.

I was flown to the Major Trauma Centre at Southmead Hospital in Bristol; the journey was very quick. When I arrived, I was feeling pretty rough, as you can imagine. I was very mucky from all the brown and dirty water and vomited due to the amount that I had swallowed, which wasn’t very nice. It was here, in hospital, that I was reunited with my parents.

On further examination, the doctors found a nasty bump to the temple area of my head and I was told that I had a small bleed on the brain. Fortunately, it was small enough to be left to repair itself. I had significant aspiration pneumonia* and fractured my right index finger. I received a CT head, neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis scan. I found breathing really hard due to the pneumonia affecting my right lung, so they started me on IV antibiotics straight away.

The team monitored me closely. My oxygen levels were poor and my blood pressure was low. I was given continuous oxygen and put under a warm air blower called a ‘bear hugger’ to help regulate my temperature.

*When oral or gastric contents are aspirated into the lungs, leading to infection.

Hospital recovery was hard and painful, but I slowly improved and after five days of amazing care, I was discharged to continue my recovery at home.

It took a bit of time, but after lots of rest and painkillers I made the decision to return to my apprenticeship and gently eased into college and work. That meant getting back behind a steering wheel again, which I did after getting another car.

A Heartfelt Reunion with His Rescuers

One of the charity’s patient and family liaison nurses, Chloe, kept in touch and checked on my progress. At a later date, she organised a visit back to the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance airbase to meet with all the services involved in helping at my road traffic incident. That took place in May and my family and I were honoured to meet everyone who helped to save me.

There were so many people that I wanted to thank and shake hands with and having the opportunity to discuss the details of what happened, helped fill in some of the gaps I had.

I learnt that it was the fire crew that pulled my car out of the water. They got me out through the front windscreen, before passing me over to the air ambulance team so I could be treated. From looking at the wreckage, no one knew if I was alive as it was dark, the car was underwater and I wasn’t visible to the emergency services. I will forever be grateful to everyone for all their amazing efforts and teamwork that night. We are now supporters of the charity and have joined their lottery, encouraging others to do the same.

VIEW FROM THE CREW: MARK & JOSH, SPECIALIST PRACTITIONERS IN CRITICAL CARE 

When we arrived, we saw a car upside down in water which was very murky and cold. Only the wheels and a few parts of the underside of the car were visible. The ambulance service crews were already on scene, looking after the passengers who had managed to escape from the vehicle and the fire and rescue team were searching for Preston, who was thought to still be in the car.

The rescue team had requested specialist technical and water rescue resources from further afield, but were not waiting for that to arrive. They secured the vehicle with straps to one of their appliances to prevent it sinking or sliding into deeper water and were wading around, trying to locate anyone inside. It was a dark night and the water was so muddy, it was impossible to see anything at all, so they were forced to just reach inside the upturned car and try to feel around. After a while, one of the team believed they could feel someone and that the seatbelt was still secured.

They tried to release it, but because the roof and doors were crushed, they couldn’t reach in far enough, so quickly made the decision to try and remove the car from the water. They used the winch affixed to the front of the appliance, attached the cable to the far side of the upturned car and essentially rolled the vehicle out of the water, right side up.

It had been over 40 minutes since the incident happened and as a clinical team, we were preparing for the worst. We had our specialist equipment ready and a trolley to the side of the scene, ready to commence resuscitation.

After the vehicle was rolled back and the roof lifted out of the water, the team released Preston’s seatbelt and extricated him through the broken windscreen. Their commitment, hard work and quick thinking, enabled Preston to be delivered to where we were situated and to our surprise, but great relief, he was breathing, though still very unwell and cold.

It was evident that Preston needed immediate hypothermic management. He was rapidly moved into the land ambulance, which had been pre-heated for further assessment and treatment. He was given high flow oxygen therapy via a facemask, had intravenous access inserted and administered with analgesia, antisickness and antibiotics, due to the high probability of aspiration of water. Preston received intravenous fluids, which were warmed by a special warming device, further monitoring and a special thermal blanket and hat applied, before being transferred onto the aircraft and flown to Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

Help us save more lives

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NEXT: Ellie and Josh'S STORY

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