'Absolute miracle' - South Shields FC bus crash survivor recalls pulling fellow fans out of wreckage

A South Shields FC fan bus crash survivor has spoken of the horror of the weekend A1 smash - and how he had to pull injured, fellow fans out of the wreckage.

On Saturday, a minibus carrying South Shields FC fans was overturned on the A1, flipping three times as they travelled back from Tamworth.

National Highways said there had been a “serious collision involving an overturned vehicle” which closed the A1 near Darrington on Saturday afternoon (April 13).

17 people were confirmed injured and taken to different hospitals in Yorkshire, with the Yorkshire Air Ambulance in attendance.

Robert Reed, 24, a comedy magician from South Shields has been a lifelong supporter of the club. On the second flip of the vehicle, he was thrown out of a window onto the motorway. 

“The truthful answer is I’m not doing too well, but then again I can’t complain considering the state some of my friends are in. I don’t think any of us are truly alright,” said Robert.

“It’s going to be hardest to fully recover from a mental perspective. Physically, time’s a great healer, but - mentally - who knows.”

After being violently ejected from the bus, Robert quickly realised he wasn’t too badly hurt. His first memory is seeing another one of his friends had also been thrown out and was covered in mud.

“My first instinct was I needed to go and help my friends out,” said Robert.

“I was on the phone to 999, helping my friends out of the wreckage. One by one they all got out apart from one of my friends who was basically trapped under the bus - the bus had landed on his head.

“I realised at the time I was one of the less injured people so I took it upon myself to act and I flagged down as many people as I could on the motorway- about eight or 10 cars stopped. All of the drivers and some passengers got out to help and lift the bus from its side so we could push his head back into the wreckage.

“I just wanted to stay as calm as I could, for their sake. And just try and worry about it later. My main priority was that my friends were out of the wreckage so they could get the medical attention they needed.”

Once the emergency services arrived, they were categorised in order of severity. Robert was in the lowest category and, after being checked over at York Hospital, was discharged.

“I got home in the early hours of the morning and my first instinct was to get in touch with everybody and see if they’re okay. As you can imagine, I didn’t sleep very well. 

“But by the end of Sunday, I was able to tick off everyone on my list and hear from everybody. At the time I was still in the dark and still a bit fearful that some of my friends weren’t actually alive.

“The doctors kept telling us it was an absolute miracle all of us walked away from that.”

On Monday, the club updated their social media with a message for those impacted by the accident.

The online statement read: “Everyone at South Shields Football Club would like to express their support to those affected by the events of Saturday evening. “Here is a personal message from the team to show our support and to express our thoughts to our supporters.”

The post was followed up by a video message, led by skipper Blair Adams.

Robert said the support the group has received has been incredible, making the whole process a lot easier. 

“It’s not something you’d expect at all. Win, draw or lose, we are a family community more than anything,” adds Robert. We’re a football community who are tightly knit together, we have each other's backs. And that’s definitely something we’ve felt over the last couple of days. 

“Football is just a game and it’s about the community spirit that's generated around that that’s the important thing. That’s never been felt more than now.”