A South Holland carer didn’t think twice before jumping into a river to help after a road crash at the weekend.
Amber Bauldry was driving home from work around 7pm on Saturday evening when she witnessed a crash on Glenside South in Pinchbeck, that saw one vehicle end up in the river.
“I heard a huge bang and the car behind me was pushed into the river.
“I stopped and without thinking I waded straight in to help the people who were in their car. They were so shocked,” she said.
“I was absolutely frozen and my temperature really dropped quickly.”
Amber (28) said she had gone in without considering the water temperature.
“I was wearing jeans and a polo shirt and hadn’t realised how cold it would be.”
Amber, who is an operations manager at Good Companions, a care and support company, said she saw the car ‘bobbing;’ in the River Glen after the collision.
Two of the three people in the car were making their way to the bank when Amber went in to help and they said another person was in the car.
She swum in the river and helped after the man freed himself, but he couldn’t swim so Amber pulled him to the bank.
“Afterwards I was thinking that it could easily of me, with my three-year-old daughter in the car and I’m not sure I would have got her out of her car seat in time.”
A strong swimmer, Amber said she was initially in the water by herself and ‘it seemed an age’ before the emergency services arrived, with vehicles from Sleaford and Boston.
There was initially only one foil blanket for the wet casualties and there were fears that hypothermia could set in.
“They did a great job and monitored me every 20 minutes for an hour once I was back in my car. I know one man went to hospital, but was released later and nobody was badly hurt,” she said.
Amber said once the emergency services had said she was OK, she went home and had a hot bath to recover.
“It wasn’t until I got home that I really thought about what had happened, and the shock of the whole thing for everyone involved.
“I work in care and I just didn’t really think at the time. You don’t when you’re in that situation, you just work on adrenaline.”
She has been supported since the incident by her husband Cameron, daughter and step-children.
Lincolnshire police confirmed the emergency services were called at 7.09pm after a collision on the junction of Glenside South and Money Bridge Lane.
A statement from the service said nobody had been seriously injured as a result of the crash.
“I was amazed that everyone basically walked away from it. Looking back, it could have been so much worse,” said Amber, who now lives in Bourne but grew up in Spalding.
“I knew I was in trouble with my mum for this when she called me Amber-Rose. That only ever happens if she’s cross,” said Amber.
