Riding with pals at degla today, rode past a guy in a bad way, he had came off quite bad, in a lot of pain from shoulder and ribs etc, he had no phone with him so I rang the bike shop at degla to ask if some one could come up to the fire road near the b line to collect the injured guy. I was told ” he can walk out or ambulance “so I ask why could no one come up to save a call to the emergency service because the guys mate was going to drive him home.
And was told ” no sorry he walks or ambulance ” I really think it would nt have took the guy in the pick up long to drive up to collect him? So the guy walked for 2 hour back to the car park.
Maybe I’ve got it wrong but I was shocked by the lack of customer service and care.

Lack of indemnity insurance, I’d guess

Couldn’t his mate have gone back for his car while you waited with the lad ?

Aye – someone ‘untrained’ comes out and there’s something occurs then it’s all too easy to ring a no win no fee solicitor

If the lad wasn’t fit to walk for an hour he shoulda rung for the ambulance. Mate or no mate taking him home.

Times are shit when it comes to this tho

I know the guys at Degla very well, they are not allowed to go into the forest and pick people up. This is (as already stated) part of the indemnity insurance, they use to up to a few years back and the the insurance compay pulled the plug. It should be noted the trials (and thus the insurance) are owned by the forest owners, which is Tihill and not Oneplanet, so unfortunately they didn’t have much say in it.

So unfortunately if you can walk, you walk. Another way to look at it is if it was the Marin you’d be in the same boat.

Hope he’s okay. Though.

I didn’t see the legal angle, but I’m really against ringing an ambulance for something that the guys mate could have taken him to his local A/E, regard his mate picking him up I’m sure no one is permitted access to the fire roads but staff and ambulances.
When ever I’ve seen the ambulance up there the guy in the black pick up always goes with them anyway.

So some random chap has an accident, and someone else (whom he does not know) is expected to leave his current duties, walk into a forest and possibly be confronted by very serious injuries, that he is not trained or equipped to deal with, and may keep him away from his post (or phone, when the next injured person calls in) for many hours?
I was taught to be self sufficient, and sort myself if possible. I, or my mates, would drag me off a hill/trail/river by the scruff of my neck, rather than expect any help. *If* a passer by offers help, great. If it is serious enough, that is what emergency services are for. If he could walk, great that you and his mate helped, good on you.
Sorry to be so blunt.

When ever I’ve seen the ambulance up there the guy in the black pick up always goes with them anyway.

Because even though ambulance personel are trained to save lives, and drive fast, theyre not trained to recognise a tree in the midle of a forest, and in llandegla thats all youve got to locate people,so the shop staff lead them in, saves an ambulance wasting its time looking for a downed rider , on the corner next to a tree.

Also imagine the fuss and insurance claim if one of the shop staff picked up a fallen rider, and the rider latter claimed for injuries caused by the lift or transport.

Why couldnt he ride.

and to put it more simply, when you find a casualty on the road, why not just phone a taxi to ,or pop them into your car to take them to hospital or home,it would save an ambulance journey.

But it was nice of you to stop and offer help, for which you should be thanked.

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL 999 ASK FOR AN AMBULANCE TELL THEM WHERE YOU ARE, POST NUMBER ETC, THE GUYS FROM ONEPLANET WILL THEN GUIDE THE AMBULANCE TO WHERE YOU ARE THEN YOU CAN BE TREATED BY A PROFFESIONAL MEDIC 😀 THERE IS SOS PHONE COVERAGE IN MOST OF THE FOREST.

sorrycaps lock was left on im not shouting

ask for the police in poor coverage areas like LLandegla they can ping your phone back and get a better location, also ring the shop and tell them where you are post location.

Its the same everywhere. In Andorra this summer we found a guy quite badly hurt, the bike patrol came in a 4×4, asked if he could walk and called the heli as soon he said that it hurt to try. Didn’t even bother trying to get him the 100m to the 4×4.

Seemed reasonable to me, if in doubt get a professional to deal with it.

If he had gotten into the 4×4 and couldn’t get back out, what would then happen? Fire brigade out to cut the roof off, which wont be covered by their insurance either.

So the guy walked for 2 hour back to the car park.

So he was ok to walk then.

I was shocked by the lack of customer service and care.

He is a customer of Tilhill not OPA (they just run the cafe & shop) and don’t have a duty of care.

this thread is pointless. If it was serious (which it appears it wasn’t) I wouldn’t hesitate to contact 999 for help. I wouldn’t ring the nearest bikeshop and then rant about them not doing a job they aren’t qualified or insured for on an internet forum.

Ok guys I’m sorry I didn’t see all your points!!! BUT
I tried to help someone in a lot of pain as i would do for any of you.
And tried to stop “another” ambulance at degla at the weekend maybe AGAIN I’m missing the point but if a place/centre/shop/factory continues to require regular ambulance assistance then couldn’t the local council close the place due to the drain/cost to the local A/E???
I know stiniog try to call the ambulance as little as poss and encouraged an injured guy the last time I was there to get this mate to drive him to the local hospital.
Anyone know how to delete a thread???

The day we talk about being a customer of somewhere when mountain biking is a very dark day.

Anyone know how to delete a thread???

it’s too late now, you made your bed, now lay in it!

And tried to stop “another” ambulance at degla at the weekend maybe AGAIN I’m missing the point but if a place/centre/shop/factory continues to require regular ambulance assistance then couldn’t the local council Local health board close the place due to the drain/cost to the local A/E???Going to have to work with the problem and try and educate riders to take more care.

FTFY

You did well in trying to avoid using an Ambulance sadly you were mistaken in your rant about the shop.

If he had gotten into the 4×4 and couldn’t get back out, what would then happen? Fire brigade out to cut the roof off, which wont be covered by their insurance either.

If he’s been walking around for any length distance or length of time then it wouldn’t be necessary.

Indeed mugsy.

And tried to stop “another” ambulance at degla at the weekend maybe AGAIN I’m missing the point but if a place/centre/shop/factory continues to require regular ambulance assistance then couldn’t the local council close the place due to the drain/cost to the local A/E???

The local council, does not pay for the ambulance service, its provided by the welsh assembly governmnet.

If the counclis ever had that sort of power, a lot of pubs would be closed immediately, due to the number of falls, drunks and asaults.

I think this incident illustrates the importance of first aid training (which they offer at Llandegla). From the information you give, his mate made a series of bad decisions, which could have had severe consequences.

I’m not being a Drama Queen here, I’ve seen it happen. A few years ago, a bike buddy had a similar accident at Llandegla, resulting in similar injuries, and ended up being rushed by ambulance to his local hospital, with breathing difficulties.

Wrexham Hospital is experienced in dealing with MTB injuries, which other doctors might not spot.

I know it’s often difficult to accept that that you need to phone 999 – but you need to accept that responsibility, when things go wrong.

If in doubt call 999, if you watch 999 What’s Your Emergency on tv you’d see that there are 100’s/1000’s of idiots who a) don’t pay taxes and b) don’t need any help wasting time, a genuine biking (or other activity) accident is worth calling for, god forbid we never need to.

I had a nasty fall at Llandegla last year and ended up spending two nights at Leeds General Infirmary (I cut my top lip from inside nostril to lip, cut was nearly all the way through! … as well as bottom lip being detached from gum on the inside and multiple other cuts + scrapes etc).

Llandegla were excellent in dealing with the situation, but Wrexham Hospital were crap, it took them 6 hours to say they couldn’t do anything that day which is why my mate ended up driving me to Leeds as it is closer to home.

The guy with the Mitsubishi Warrior thing was on hand to guide the ambulance, although one of his main jobs in this situation is to transport bikes back to base.

I was actually quite lucky as the ambulance was already at the nearest fire road for someone who had broken their collar bone, so I just cadged a lift to A&E really.

ask for the police in poor coverage areas like LLandegla they can ping your phone back and get a better location, also ring the shop and tell them where you are post location.

This isn’t much help in areas with poor coverage. The lack of masts means the area you can narrow it down too is usually still large. Secondly, it’s not information that is instantly available to the police, it has to be obtained from the phone company. I think the quickest I’ve had the information back is about an hour, often longer though.

One day in Tignes this summer one of our group broke his collarbone. The miserable lifties wouldn’t let him get the lift back down the mountain. We had to walk – it took friggin ages! 😆

Not all chairlifts can be ridden downwards. Depends on the type and the way the return cable is suspended.

Probably they were being twits though.

OP. I see your point as someone who rode out of the woods with a broken pelvis last year to avoid calling an ambulance to a difficult place. But I’m with the shop here. You needed pros and they had their own stuff to do.

On the locating you front, if you have:
i A smartphone
ii Reasonable signal for web access

Then the Echo112 app will get you found. Available for android and iOS phones.

Sounds reasonable on OPA’s side as others have said.

On a side note, came across a group of riders looking after a fallen rider on the final new descent on White’s at Afan yesterday. Don’t know if they were his riding buddies but every rider stopped to check he was ok and whether an ambulance was on it’s way. Always makes me proud to be a small part of the mountain biking community that looks out for others like the Op seems to have done.

If that rider at Afan is reading this, hope you heal soon, looked a nasty blow to the head!!

We struggled for phone coverage when I had my fall at Llandegla. As with the previous post, every person who went past us offered to help and eventually someone had signal and we able to call the shop.