THE dramatic rescue of a South Lakeland man after a high-speed bike crash features in the new series of the popular reality TV programme, Helicopter ER.

Experienced triathlete, cyclist and endurance runner Tom Phillips, of Arnside, was on a 130-mile cycle ride through the Yorkshire Dales when he lost control on the steep Buttertubs Pass descent, near Hawes, and smashed into a drystone wall.

The impact caused multiple injuries including a broken neck, spine, sternum, several ribs and a collarbone fractured in three places.

“Buttertubs Pass is a very steep descent and I just wasn’t concentrating. I remember this corner coming up and thinking why I am going this fast?,” said Tom.

“I threw the bike into a speedway-style slide but both wheels hit a kerb at the same time which catapulted me off the bike like a pole vault and I did a Superman impression straight into a stone wall.

“The next thing I was lying by the wall struggling to breathe. Everything after that is a bit like being in a dream world.”

Tom was cycling with friend Ian Richardson who took swift action to help him breathe immediately after the impact. Yorkshire Air Ambulance paramedics stabilised Tom at the remote scene before airlifting him to James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, in just 20 minutes. The journey by road ambulance would have taken a gruelling hour-and-a-half.

The superfit 53-year-old underwent seven hours of surgery to repair his back and collarbone, with metal rods inserted on either side of his spine.

Despite his injuries and significant nerve and muscle damage, Tom was back on a bike within three months and has since raised £3,000 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Tom’s rescue appears in the first episode of the second series of UKTV’s Helicopter ER on Monday (Aug 28), at 9pm on Really.

The programme, which follows the life-saving work of Yorkshire Air Ambulance, also features an elderly dairy farmer attacked by one of his own herd and a bizarre crash on the A1 after a car careers over a bridge and bursts into flames on the motorway below, trapping the driver.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) serves 5million people across Yorkshire and carries out over 1,250 missions every year.