A POMPEY fan has told how he and fellow supporters tried to save a man who died after the weekend’s match against Preston North End.
The 65-year-old man collapsed at the wheel of his car with a suspected heart attack as he was driving out of the car park behind the Fratton End at 5pm.
His car hit the gate post at the car park entrance, narrowly avoiding several fans leaving the match on foot.
But despite the efforts of the emergency services, the man died later at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, Portsmouth.
Rob Surrey, of Balfour Road in North End, was leaving the game with his father and a friend.
The 40-year-old said: ‘We had just walked past the gate and we heard a loud crunch right behind us.
‘This lad we had only just walked past was standing there saying “What on earth is going on?”.
‘The car had hit the post, it must have only been about six or seven feet behind us. I looked at the driver and thought “Oh no”. You could see he was unconscious. One chap ran off to get a steward, I told another lad to turn the car off, it was revving really high, and I called 999.
‘The stewards were there very quickly and started trying to resuscitate him.
‘You just go out to watch your team play on a Saturday and you don’t expect it to end like that. Poor chap.’
South Central Ambulance Service received a call at 4.58pm. Ambulance workers already at the ground for the game were quickly on the scene and took him to QA.
The car park was initially cordoned off by police as they investigated the crash.
Police control supervisor Laura Parsonage said: ‘We didn’t know at first if the incident was the result of the heart attack, or if the heart attack was the result of the incident, so we had to treat it as a potential road traffic collision.’
The police have since confirmed they are not treating it as suspicious.
A file has been prepared for the coroner’s office.
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