Air ambulance lands in town park on 999 call

An emergency response unfolded in Tavistock Meadows on Saturday (August 1) when emergency services, including a Devon Air Ambulance helicopter, came to the aid of someone who had fallen in the river.

The helicopter landed on the grass at about 10am (along with police, a road ambulance, a separate paramedic and the fire service), to reports of a man believed to be in a mobility scooter who had ended up in the River Tavy. In the end, the patient was taken to Derriford Hospital by road.

A police spokesman said: “We were called to reports of a mobility scooter user falling into the river at Pixon Lane, Tavistock, at around 12.35pm on Sunday, August 2.

“Emergency services attended the scene, including the air ambulance. The fire service recovered him from the water. It was reported that he sustained head and facial injuries and he was taken to hospital.”

A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: “We were called at 9.52am on Sunday, August 2, to an incident in Tavistock. We sent one double-crewed land ambulance, an air ambulance, and a first responder to the scene. We conveyed one patient by land ambulance to Derriford Hospital.”