AN elderly man is still fighting for his life after crashing into a lorry last week.
The 70-year-old from Waltham Abbey, who was driving a white Ford Escort, collided with the seven and a half-tonne lorry in Ninefields, Waltham Abbey, as the road runs past Edward Court.
He was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow with serious head injuries following the crash last Monday (November 28).
Alan Coventry, 67, of Edward Court, rushed out to douse the flames coming from the car after he heard the crash.
“I was sitting in my flat and hear this almighty crunch,” he said. “I looked out and there was a car that had run into the front of a lorry.
“The car suddenly started catching alight and I grabbed the watering can and my wife Sandra got a bucket full and we went backwards and forwards getting water.
“If the car had gone up, the lorry would have gone up.
“The lorry drivers helped the old boy out of the car and he looked shaken up.” He said the front of the car was crumpled up where it had hit the lorry.
June Evans, 60, saw the aftermath of the crash from her first floor flat in Edward court.
“I saw flames coming from under the bonnet of the white car,” she said. “The guy next door on the ground floor came running out with water.
“He was insistent on putting the fire out because of the danger of the lorry catching fire.”
She said the lorry driver got the man out of the car and took him to the side of the road.
“I could see him shaking,” she added. “I ran in and got a blanket and threw it to the guy who was watering the bonnet and he put the blanket around him.
“The guy did put the fire out. The ambulance took 20 minutes to arrive, but the police were there in five.
“I got the blanket back. It showed how nice other people are.”
A section of the road was closed for about three hours while emergency services dealt with the incident.
Police said today (Monday) that the man remained in a critical but stable condition in Princess Alexandra Hospital.
They are appealing for witnesses to call officers at Chigwell roads policing unit on 0300 333 4444.
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