V2 Steve’s Story

Here is a story for you.
I have never told this to anyone before except on the statement and the inquest.

Names have been changed for reasons that will become apparent.

After a blinding weekend in Faro in 2001 it was time to pack the tent up and start the 1500 mile trip back to Dieppe in northern France to get the ferry back to Newhaven that was at the time home.
The day had started well at about 8 am my self and Sue who was the person I was guiding on her first foreign run packed the tent up and grabbed some breakfast before hitting the road and heading towards Spain.
We was hoping to get to Seville then turn left into the desert and head towards Madrid, There was a great camp site about half way to Madrid that we stayed at on the way down.
We decided to have our first break and petrol stop in a small town called Lepe which was about half way towards Seville. We had a nice relaxing cup of coffee, filled the bikes up and started on our way again.
About three miles down the road the traffic became very heavy were the road was down to single carriageway, There were loads of bikes passing us as we were just keeping up with the flow and not leapfrogging like allot of the sports bikes were doing to get on to the faster roads. As we were following a Land rover that was pulling a trailer that had a load of garage doors or sheets of aluminium on it we were over taken by first of all one sports bike who managed to get round the Land rover then another bike pulled in front of us and waited for a space to get round and shoot off to catch up with his mate.
We was doing about 45 miles per hour and had just gone over a small river bridge when the bike pulled out to overtake the land rover, As he passed the trailer the land rover suddenly and for no reason pulled into the middle of the road as to cut off the biker and push him into the path of an oncoming ford Escort carrying a family consisting of two adults and three kids in the back. There was nothing that the guy on the bike could do, He didn’t have time to even break, He hit the Escort head on. My memory from that point becomes very patchy from that point as all I can really remember is first of all the impact first and the loud bang of the collision, Then it was like riding through a shower of sharp fibre glass hitting me in the face causing cuts to my face and my bear arms, Then I saw what was left of the bike, it was an engine, frame and back wheel spinning in the air and heading right towards my face. I was petrified all I could do is close my eyes, turn my head to one side and wait for impact I did not even have time to break, It was weird all I felt was what I thought was a muffled thud then it went silent as I flew through the air for seemed like an eternity, My bike flipped over on to its side and landed with a bang and slid down the road with me planted still on it. Luckily my panniers were well packed and saved my legs from too much harm. Then I stopped. It was quiet for a second then I heard my companion swearing like a trooper, she had come off as well after panicking going through the remains of the Fairing etc.
I stood up and run to the side of the road to gather myself and to asses what the hell had just happened, I looked into the road and saw Sue struggling with her bike so I went to help her off the road then looked again and saw the rider of the sports bike motionless in the middle of the road, I walked over to him to see if he was ok but as soon as I saw him I knew there was nothing anyone could do for him, I had seen too many bodies being a lifeboat crew member I just had that feeling, Or that’s what I thought at the time, I know I was in shock and allot of pain as well with all the grazing down my arm and half the tarmac buried in my skin.
Why was I still alive that bike was heading straight for my face it must have dropped just as I reached it hitting my VN750 on the forks just below the headlight, it had snapped the headstock in half and bent the forks back into the engine. Broke the pegs and knackered the exhaust.
It seemed like ages for anyone who was not involved with the crash to tend to the guy who was in the road I reckon it must have been 10 minutes before a motorist started CPR on him, I regret to this day I had not help the man even though I had been trained to help I was helpless, my head was all over the place trying to console my companion and myself, I kept looking at my bike thinking oh f##k, Oh F##k, Oh Fu#k, its gone. I tried not to look at the poor chap in the road, Please don’t ask me why cos I don’t have an answer it was a living nightmare at the time.

Shit sorry Chris I will save it and send the rest later, its making me feel bad.

Sorry about that Chris brining the memories out of my head for the first time in nearly six years got to me yesterday.

To my amazement the chap who pulled out into the middle of the road stopped further up the road and walked back to see the damage he had caused , All he did was say sorry in English and walked away back to his car and drove off. I tried to tell the victim’s friend who by then had come back looking for him to get the number of the car but he was too upset.
The people who were in the car were being tended to by other motorists, the kids in the back looked ok but the parents were bleeding quite badly and the car was mashed in the front.
After a while a few brit bikers pulled over to help and from that point I could start to call insurance companies to arrange breakdown etc for two bikes, Mine I could tell was totalled but Sue’s was going to be ok it just snapped the brake lever and bent the foot peg. I can’t remember who the bikers were who helped us but if I ever meet them again there would be a bottle of vodka each for them.
Once I had arranged for recovery with the RAC in Spain I went to the Policeman that was attending to get some medical attention for myself, I was lucky because the ambulance crew were just about to leave, All they did was plonk me into the ambulance and cart me off to the nearest hospital to get my arm cleaned up and dressed, On the way there they said they will drop me back at the crash site after I was seen to which I thought was cool.
In the hospital I was taken straight into a cubicle and a doctor saw me straight away. He peeled the road off my arm and splashed iodine onto the wound, I didn’t cry but I have never felt anything so painful in my life before, God it hurt.
About half hour later I was back at the side of the road with sue waiting for the breakdown to arrive, there was a camera crew there shooting the scene and after a while a bike pulled up. It was Stu Garland, He introduced himself and offered us any help that we needed which I thought was at the time wonderful cos we were not a part of the BSH riders who paid for the trip and backup.
We said to him that we were ok and that the RAC were on the case and we will be looked after, He gave me his card and contact numbers and went on his way.
Eventually the truck turned up, Put the bikes onto the back and took us to a warehouse down the road, Put the bikes in the warehouse locked the door then the driver said a Taxi will pick you up in a while.
Within 10 minutes a Taxi arrived and took us to a local Motel that was owned but the local Godfather, This is were it becomes interesting.
When we arrived at the Motel we were taken to our room and said do not worry about the bill the RAC and insurance company will organise all the details. Cool we thought and went straight tot the bar, Well I hobbled and winced my way to the bar, One double vodka and coke went straight down, Two then three then four and so on, We could not stop thinking about the poor guy on the GSX R but we had no way of finding out were he was, if he was alive or anything.
While we was in the bar we were informed that the next day we was to go to the police station to give a statement but we had no transport until a rental car arrived later, I took it over and signed for it by that time quite pissed.
By about 6pm a waitress came over to us and said the “owner of the Motel expects us to join him foe dinner later that evening and it was polite to accept” so we did.
It was totally surreal going down later to the back of the motel fronted by more food than you would see at a wedding buffet and a table set up like a top table with a big guy in the middle and his henchmen next to him, For Sue that was too much, she lasted about half an hour and I was soon to follow her after a few more drinks and a really good chat to a chap who had no idea what I was saying and visa versa. I was totally fucked by then by the drink. Shock, and pain, I was given no pain relief in the hospital so I had to grin and bear it.

Getting back from Spain was an adventure in its own right it took 3 days longer than it should have done by begging insurance companies for help and pleading with the RAC as well apparently they don’t talk to each other between France and Spain.

After I returned home as soon as I got in doors I sat down and cried my eyes out for what seemed like an eternity, I had just gone through a total nightmare that lasted just about a week. Or was it a total adventure in my eyes now it probably was but then I was just glad to be home.

I was later to be told I had PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) due to the nightmares I had seeing the bike flying towards me and other stuff going on in my head.

I’m ok now but I can’t stop thinking there is a run I have to do now that I didn’t get to do the last time. I have to follow it as near to as I can remember and this time I have to complete it. That feeling will not go away until I complete what I set out to do 6 years ago.

I hope I have not bored you too much with this story but my regard and respect for what you are doing with the mag and your own life make me feel I can tell you this story. You are living my dream you lucky git.

I have sent a copy to Jess just incase you don’t get it.
I trust her she seems very nice and has been very welcoming to me since I joined the forum.         

Regards

V2Steve