A RESCUE volunteer on his way to play a casualty in a training exercise ended up in hospital seriously injured after being involved in a road accident.

Jamie Busby, 20, of Kidderminster, was hurt in the incident, which happened at about 4.55pm last Thursday, as he rode his motorcycle on the A456 Birmingham Road between Blakedown and Kidderminster, towards Severn Area Rescue Association — SARA’s — Wyre Forest station in Cookley to pick up training equipment.

The red Suzuki motorcycle he was riding collided with a blue Land Rover Discovery near to the junction with Deansford Lane. He sustained serious injuries, including a fractured rib, dislocated shoulder and a large wound to his right leg, which required surgery.

The Army cadet, who works for a building firm based in Birmingham, was taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester and was released on Sunday evening.

Speaking to The Shuttle, he vowed to return to SARA as an operational member — a volunteer who responds to police calls for help with land and river rescues — and said he hoped to be back in about a month.

He said: “I was quite lucky, to be honest. I walked away with a couple of broken ribs but it could have been a lot worse.

“The evening it happened I was on the way to the station to get bits and pieces for a training exercise and I was supposed to be the casualty. I was going to grab casualty simulation equipment, like fake blood and wounds, and I planned to go back to the training site before the crew got there.”

Mr Busby said he was in a stable condition but in a lot of pain and taking strong pain killers. He added he would buy a car and not get back on a motorbike “for a while” following the incident.

The former Baxter College pupil said: “I want to get back and help SARA as much as I can. I got involved in SARA in September, 2012 because they came and helped my mum when she had an accident and at that point I decided I wanted try and help them. I enjoyed it so have done it ever since.

“The support I have received since the road accident has been fantastic — my phone has not stopped going off. I have had a couple of visits from the crew, which has been brilliant. Hopefully, I’ll be back in action in about a month but for now I am just recovering at home.”

PC Lisa Hornberger, of West Mercia Police, is investigating the incident and said the road was busy at the time and appealed for anyone with information to call 101, quoting incident 505-S-260614.

SARA relies solely on charitable funding. Crews typically attend incidents where boats or people are in difficulty and carry out searches for missing people, animal rescues and flood relief. For more information, call Cally Carter on 01562 850155.