A MAN who lost his right arm after a horrific crash on a Tayside road today told how he wants the authorities to “throw the book” at the driver responsible.
Neil Black, 31, was travelling home from work in March last year when Dundee man William Brierley ploughed into his Volkswagen Golf in a Mercedes lorry after ignoring warning signs at Inverkeilor railway bridge in Angus.
The 54-year-old trucker admitted the offence in court last week.
Neil told the Tele of the long list of traumatic injuries he suffered in the crash — and hit out at Brierley, who he says has never apologised for his part in the incident.
He said: “I want the book thrown at him. If it was me who had been driving the lorry, his family would want it thrown in my face. It was all his fault and it was down to his own negligence and stupidity. Now I have to live my life with one arm. Prosthetics are no use to me because the shoulder is fused.
“I don’t look to get anything from anyone but if that was me who was driving, I would be riddled with guilt and try my best to make sure I could help him or his family in any way possible. He hasn’t done anything — he hasn’t even said sorry.”
Brierley was towing a trailer on the A92 between Arbroath and Montrose when he collided with the bridge and caused the head-on crash.
Neil said he was conscious as he lay in the mangled wreckage of his car.
He lost six pints of blood on the way to hospital and later lapsed into a coma — with medics and emergency services stunned that he survived.
The impact left him with multiple, life-changing injuries and ultimately resulted in him losing his right arm after a number of surgeries.
He added: “My left foot was left hanging on by the skin. I needed to have a fixator fitted for six weeks. I had 10 broken ribs on my right side, a punctured lung, my right shoulder was smashed, I had a fractured skull, and bleeding on the brain.
“I also had a broken nose and cuts to my face and left hand. My right arm was wrapped around the passenger seat. I ended up with my back against the passenger door.
“My seat belt completely snapped off with the force of the impact. I was awake at the scene and all the way to hospital, and I lost six pints of blood. I needed to have three blood transfusions before I was operated on, and my scalp was deroofed.”
Neil says he had to relearn how to do everything he had once taken for granted and added: “It has affected me in every way but I have learned to train my brain again. I had never realised about phantom limb pain before it happened but when I woke up from my coma I could feel every injury I had on my arm that wasn’t there.
“With a broken leg, the pain stops after a while but this went on for months and is still going to this day.
“I need to take painkillers constantly and nerve stimulants every day. That was a card I was dealt, not one I played.”
Last week, at Forfar Sheriff Court, Brierley, of Charleston Road, Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of dangerous driving.
Sentence for Brierley was deferred.
