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Traffic officer tells of amazing recovery
A Lancashire traffic officer left fighting for his life after being hit by a drunken lorry driver in a motorway crash has returned to work.
Rob Potter suffered serious head injuries when a lorry ploughed into his car parked on the hard shoulder of the M56.
He was trying to help motorist Gabriella Herdman, who had run out of petrol, when his vehicle was struck in February 2006.
Rob, 29, said: "I remember leaving the break area at a service station and moving onto the hard shoulder. From that point my memory dies."
Rob, who is based at Samlesbury, and his colleague gave Miss Herdman safety advice and were discussing their next job when a 40-tonne HGV careered into their Mitsubishi Shogun.
Miss Herdman, 35, was killed in the accident near Bowdon, Cheshire, and the Highways Agency officers were seriously injured.
Rob, of Collingwood Road, Chorley, added: "The vehicle was shortened by three feet and we were trapped against the barrier."
Rob was left with a displaced and fractured jaw and chin, a fractured rib and eye socket, and part of his nose was torn.
His brain injuries were so severe hospital staff kept him in a medically-induced coma for two weeks.
He has undergone more than three years of therapy and rehabilitation and still suffers problems with short term memory, and his personality changed.
He added: "It's like living in the past and not remembering the present.
"But I'm finding ways to overcome that like having a diary and writing down appointments.
"My temperament was also changed but I've managed to form a way where I can calm myself down. I've had a complete personality transplant."
Lorry driver Anthony Kennedy, who was four times over the drink drive limit, was jailed for eight years.
Solicitors Russell Jones and Walker are now fighting for compensation for Rob's injuries.
But Rob is glad to be on the road to recovery: "Against all the odds I'm now back at work doing a job I love and the accident has given me a whole new outlook on life – I now intend to enjoy every minute."
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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