Chairmakers landlord Angus Reid awarded for keeping 'cool and calm' after car crashes into his pub and says his Royal Navy training was the key

Angus Reid and his wife Sherry were inside the Chairmakers Arms, Worlds End, drinking coffee at about 9am on February 27 when they saw a silver Peugeot lose control off Apless Lane before flying through the air.

The vehicle, which had careered off the 60mph bend in the road, ploughed through the gates of the pub before flipping over and then smashing into the bay window of the pub.

Angus raced to the aid of the unconscious driver and tried to stem the flow of blood pouring from his injuries as petrol leaked from the vehicle.

As other cars stopped to help, Angus, a former Royal Navy stores accountant who was in charge of organising logistics and supplies to ships, took the lead in the crisis situation.

‘He was unconscious when I got to him,’ Angus said. ‘I thought he was dead. But then he came round and I just tried to keep him calm by talking to him and asking him questions until the emergency services arrived.

‘As I’m ex-navy my training kicked in and instinctively it all came back to me. My wife was giving updates to the emergency services. It was a good team effort.

‘Because we are in an isolated spot it was around 10 minutes before they turned up, which was a quite good response.’

One of those who went to help was Winchester city councillor Rachael Pearson who witnessed Angus attending to the driver, who it was feared had suffered spinal injuries.

It prompted her to put the landlord forward for a Community Champion Award, which he has now received.

‘I witnessed him be cool, calm and collected while communicating to the trapped person in the vehicle that the emergency services were on their way,’ she wrote on the award.

‘He conveyed compassion, selfless assistance and leadership qualities.’

Following the award, Angus said: ‘It’s nice to be recognised. I’m just glad it all ended well.

‘The driver phoned me a few days later to say thank you and that he was fine.

‘I’m glad he was ok because it could have been worse. The car was upside down and had a large wooden beer barrel on its roof that had pinned him in the car.

‘But if the barrel was not there he would have come right into the pub which would have been worse for him. We’re thankful everything turned out ok.’

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Debris was strewn across the pub car park needing a two-day clear-up with damage costing £30,000. ‘We’re hoping to claim the money back from the insurance company but they are still yet to acknowledge our claim,’ the publican said.

Angus has also called for a speed reduction along the road with him saying 60mph is ‘too fast’ for the bend on the road after there was another crash by the pub three months before this one.

‘It’s not the first time we’ve had a crash here,’ he said. ‘The previous crash saw a car end up in the field after turning over.’

Angus served the Royal Navy between 1985 and 1994 and was deployed to the Gulf and Israel and served aboard HMS Victory during his stint.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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