Call Sign April 13

Call Sign April 2013 Page 8The December 2012 issue of Call Sign containedan article on Dial-a-Cab driver JohnWard (R88) and told how he probablyhelped to save many lives following a badaccident on the A13 in Essex in September2010.Last November at Snaresbrook CrownCourt, Judge Patricia Lees, praised John’sactions and said that despite his owninevitable shock, he parked his cab acrossthe A13 following a bad accident that leftdebris strewn across the carriageway inorder to get oncoming traffic to slow down.He also ran to try to help the victim of theaccident, desperately trying to free him untilhe realised there was nothing he could do tosave him. At the same time he dialled 999 toget the emergency services out.John also persuaded the driver of an articulatedlorry to block the road to help alertoncoming traffic and to try to minimise thechances of any further serious injuries oreven loss of life.The Judge commended John for hisactions and awarded him £500 from theSherriff ’s Fund “as a small token of theappreciation of the public.” She called itas an act of selfless bravery.John had been travelling home after workalong the A13 eastbound towards the M25 ataround 1.15 in the morning and was in themiddle lane of the three-lane carriageway.Aware of speed cameras he kept to a steady40mph. Suddenly a BMW 640 coupe with thedistinctive registration of P1MP R undertookhis cab at an estimated 80 mph. It thenturned left into a BP fuel station just afterthe A406 junction and John forgot about itand carried on his way home. Then as heapproached Rainham Marshes, still sitting inthe middle lane and keeping to the newspeed limit of 70 mph, the BMW came out ofnowhere and overtook John on his offside atan ultra-high speed. In fact John described itas being unbelievable with the court callingit around 155mph!John soon forgot about it and continuedon towards the M25 junction where theroad sweeps left on a long bend and overthe brow of a hill. As he reached the bottomof the hill, he saw the same BMW badly damagedhaving been in collision with anothercar and the wreckage covering the carriageway.John described the scene as one resemblingthe scene from a disaster movie.He pulled his cab across the lanes at ninetydegrees to the hard shoulder and put hishazard lights on. The BMW driver seemedunhurt, but the other car was laying stationaryat a 45 degree angle to the road, facingup the banking some distance ahead. Theimpact was so severe that it had been damagedbeyond recognition. He tried franticallyto pull the driver’s door open in casethere was any explosion, but the accidentwedged it too tight. John could also see thatthe driver was almost certainly dead. Heeven tried smashing the windscreen with apiece of concrete, but it was no use.He stopped another taxi to help block theroad as traffic was still speeding past at70mph. One car skidded as it hit some flotsamand collided with the central reservationbarrier, coming to a stop in the middleNow it’s a visit to Parliament Square and to be one of justeight in two years...DAC HERO NOW GETSCOMMENDATION!John with his award presented at theUK Supreme Courtof the one lane that remained open! Thenthe truck came along and John asked the driverif could park sideways across the entirethree lanes of the carriageway to block theroad completely - something the truckerspeedily did.John told Call Sign at the time howamazed he had been at the lack of any apparentcare the BMW driver, 25-year oldShehzad Munir and his girlfriend showedas the other car driver, Sukhpreet SinghChimber - a 30-year old father of threeyoung children with a wife expecting theirfourth child – laying immobile in the wreckage.Munir was later found guilty by jury ofdangerous driving and jailed for seven years.He was also banned from driving for eightyears.On February 15 this year, John wasawarded a certificate of bravery fromthe High Sheriff of London at the UnitedKingdom Supreme Court in ParliamentSquare. The formal ceremony was witnessedby many dignitaries including theChief of Police, several MPs and HighCourt Judges. John’s award was one ofjust eight presented over the past twoyears and his was the only one where hisbravery had also involved saving lives.John told Call Sign after the prestigiousceremony: “I feel very humble and whilstthere is a sense of pride in receiving theaward, there is the sadness in thinking ofMr Chimber and his young family whoselives were wrecked by a young man in asports car showing off to his girlfriend...”John’s humility should not disguise thefact that whilst he could do nothing to savethe life of Mr Chimber, there are probablypeople alive today who might have died hadit not been for him.Cover pic: John at the presentation withUnder Sheriff of London John Hargrove andthe Assistant Commissioner of the Met PoliceChris Allison.Dial-a-Cab Credit UnionEver needed money quickly but were anxious aboutvariable bank interest rates?Well wonder no more! If you are a subscriber, journeyman ormember of staff at Dial-a-Cab, then you qualify to join theDial-a-Cab Credit Union. 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