Woman hit by lorry reunited with attending officers

An 88-year-old woman has been reunited with two police officers who looked after her when she was knocked down by a lorry.

Vera Farrell was left unconscious and lying partly across the road after being hit while walking on the pavement. It happened on the corner of Abbots Wood Road and Crawley Green Road, Luton, on 24 February.

PC Jake Bowden and PC Dan Nunn found Vera and she was airlifted to hospital in London where she had one of her legs amputated.

Bedfordshire Police said a man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by careless driving and has been bailed.

Vera's "very own heroes" came to see her at Little Bramingham Farm, a residential care home in Luton run by Friends of the Elderly.

The visit was organised by her niece.

Vera said she "was over the moon to see my two policemen stars again".

"They were such were such gentlemen and I was so lucky they were there to help me," she said.

Bowden and Nunn were based in Cambridge at the time but were covering the area in Luton as local officers were otherwise deployed.

Nunn said they were returning to Cambridge along Crawley Green Road when they saw the lorry on the corner.

They made an initial triage assessment and Nunn said he applied a tourniquet to Vera's right leg to prevent any further blood loss until the air ambulance arrived.

She recalled speaking to the officers about Luton Town Football Club, which she supports, as she lay on the pavement.

"One minute I was walking on the pavement, and the next I was lying on the cold, concrete floor with two lovely policemen by my side," she said.

One of the officers remarked that Vera's shopping trolley had been badly crushed and she was worried about her cheese sandwich inside.

"I was having that later," Vera said.

Following surgery at London's King's College Hospital, Vera said she was eventually moved "closer to home to Bedford Hospital where the nursing team were very kind".

In June, fitted with her new prosthetic leg, she moved to Little Bramingham Farm.

Bedfordshire Police said that the investigation into the collision was ongoing.

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