Donegal man commended by police for saving boy from burning car in crash that killed five

A Donegal man who saved the life of a seven-year-old boy by pulling him from a burning car in a motorway collision that killed five people has been commended for his bravery by a UK police force.

Shane Doherty from Glentogher in Inishowen was driving his work van to Scotland on the M6 motorway at Tebay in Cumbria when he became caught up in a collision on October 15 last year involving a car driving the wrong way in his carriageway.

The boy was the only survivor of the crash which took the life of his mother, her partner and his  sons, aged 15 and seven.

A coroner found the four victims were unlawfully killed by the suicidal driver of the car being driven the wrong way on the  motorway, who also died.

The family had been returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor during the school holidays.

The oncoming Skoda struck the family’s Toyota immediately in front of the Ford Transit van driven by Mr Doherty, who was travelling with two colleagues, including Gavin Walsh, who was also commended by Cumbria Police.

The impact caused damage to the front of the van and burst a tyre. The engine from the oncoming car flew over  the van and the Toyota was forced back by the force of the impact and ended up on its side.

Mr Doherty said he had been planning to overtake the car in front of him and “in another few seconds” he would have been in front of it.

“It happened that quick,” he told Donegal Live. “They hit head-on at 70 miles an hour and burst into flames.”

He and Mr Walsh ran straight to the car in flames and tried to break the rear window.

“I don’t know if it was because we were panicking,”  he said, but they could not break the window, and he ran back to the van and got a small trolley jack which they used to smash it.

“We reached in and got the young boy pulled out through his seatbelt. As we were doing that, the flames were getting worse with the air [rushing in] in the car. The flames were passing us at the back window. The flames just got so bad we could not get any more out to be honest. We could only get the one out.”

They took the boy a safe distance from the car and wrapped him in a foil blanket, giving him sips of water until the emergency services arrived.  He was flown by helicopter to hospital in Newcastle where he made a recovery after months of treatment.

The father of five said he responded as he did because “it is just the way I am”.

“I went into autopilot. It was the natural thing to do. And God forbid if I was ever in that situation I would hope someone would do it for me or my family. I knew it was the normal thing to do.”

Mr Doherty and Mr Walsh were given awards by Cumbria Police last week after investigating officers viewed dashcam footage from a lorry at the scene, which showed them pulling the boy out of the car.

Chief Inspector Sam Turner, who nominated the men for a chief constable's commendation, said: “The actions of both men showed extraordinary courage and instinctive heroism during a harrowing and distressing situation.

“I had no hesitation in recommending them for this award, in recognition of their selfless and exceptionally brave actions.”

Almost a year on from the horrific collision, Mr Doherty has been trying not to think about it.  

“It is hard to not think about it sometimes. You think I could have done this or I could have done that differently.”

He was invited by Cumbria Police to the awards ceremony two months ago, but had considered not attending “because I did not do it to get an award”. 

“I just did it because it was the natural thing to do but the police highly recommended that I go and they said I deserved it.” 

The awards ceremony has brought memories of the day back to him. “To be honest I never felt as sick in my life as I did [on the day of the ceremony]. It brought it all back.”