A pedestrian wqas airlifted to hospital this evening suffering head and serious leg injuries when he was thrown 40ft through the air after in collision with a car in Chippenham.

The man, in his late 20s, was hurt on the B4069 Maud Heaths Causeway between Hill Corner Road and Parsonage Way shortly after 4.30pm.

Great Western Ambulance Service received a 999 call and sent an emergency care practitioner in a rapid-response vehicle to the scene.

Also in attendance were two nurses who were passing as well as two GWAS clinicians who had just left the trust’s nearby headquarters at Jenner House on Langley Park.

The patient sustained a severe fracture to his right leg. There was also bleeding and bruising to his face and head. The ECP therefore requested the Wiltshire Air Ambulance attend and the helicopter subsequently flew the man to Royal United Hospital in Bath.

Tracy Heath, GWAS General Manager for Urgent Care, was one of those passing the incident who stopped to help. She said: “The two nurses came across him first and had done a great job looking after him until our crew arrived.

“As well as being collared and boarded for the suspected head injury, the patient received pain relief, oxygen and a lot of reassurance.”

The driver of the vehicle, a silver Rover, was not hurt.

Tracy Heath also urged motorists to take extra care if passing an incident before police are on scene. She said: “Our crew clearly needed to start treating the patient straight away before the police arrived to manage the traffic.

“I appreciate it is frustrating for other drivers to be held up, but trying to squeeze past an incident is putting our crews in danger and runs a real risk of making an already very difficult situation much worse.”