Elderly man suffers suspected broken leg after golf buggy crash
An elderly man has suffered a suspected broken leg after his golf buggy veered down a hill at a Preston golf club.
Playing a round of 18 with three friends around Ingol Golf Club on Sheraton Park, the man in his 70s found himself losing control and driving into a ditch at the side of a track between the 10th and 11th hole.
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Hide AdAccording to Lancashire Fire Service, the incident happened at around 2.50pm on Tuesday afternoon, and crews raced to the scene after getting a call from North West Air Service.
And 16-year-old Jen Smith who lives on Somerset Park, around the golf course, saw the air ambulance come down and describes the scene as she walked along to help.
“I live really close and saw the helicopter coming down on to the golf course,” she said. “I wanted to see if I could help so I went along and when I got there I could see a man, the buggy and medics in the brook in between two holes.
“I wasn’t strong enough to help with the lifting but when the fire service came, I showed them where to go so they could help get him out. It looked like the buggy had got caught on a fence as he’d come around the corner and that’s how it had ended up going down the ditch.
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Hide Ad“I couldn’t see too much of what was going on but when they brought him out of the ditch he was chatting away and didn’t seem in too much pain. Then some of the medics were telling us that he had broken his leg and he was taken away in the helicopter.”
Manager at Ingol Golf Club, John Wright, said he thinks this was a “freak accident”.
He said: “People have been driving along there since 1984 and there’s never been any problems. I think it was just an awkward fall and that’s how he’s hurt himself.
“The buggy itself is not damaged at all and none of the three men he was playing with were injured.”
NWAS said the man in his 70s, was flown by North West Air Ambulance with a suspected broken leg.