Shropshire Star

Watch: Great-grandad, 82, mown down by car survives after his Apple watch automatically dials 999

An 82-year-old great-grandad survived being mown down by a car when his Apple watch automatically dialled 999.

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Tony Jauncey, 82, was crossing the street in Kidderminster, when a car turned the corner and collided with him.

CCTV shows Tony being hurled through the air and landing on his back following the horror crash on January 19.

The driver of the car stopped and tried to help Tony who had suffered a broken collar bone, cracked ribs and severe bruising to his right leg.

While he lay in agony, his smart watch had detected the impact of the crash and had automatically dialled 999.

The gadget sent Tony's GPS location to the emergency services and minutes later paramedics and police were at the scene.

Tom Jauncey, 82, called emergency services from his Apple watch after being hit by a car in Oxford Street, Kidderminster

Tony, who has four children, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, was rushed to hospital where he spent a week recovering from his "life-changing" injuries.

The retired bookkeeper, who has now returned home, said: “I was walking back to my car which was parked in Aldi and was crossing the road when I felt a thud.

“The next thing I saw was the bumper of a car in front of me.

“I was lying in the road, I was not able to move.

“The other thing I’d like to point out is my Apple watch.

"The watch detected a fall and asked if I wanted to call the emergency services.

"I could cancel the request by pressing a button on the side of the phone but I left it and as a result the phone called 999."

Tony, who lives with wife Shirley, 82, in Hartlebury, was given the watch by his family for Christmas.

He added: “The modern technology and the capabilities we have are just incredible and may have saved my life.

"This roundabout is very dangerous, it always has been. The driver cut the corner and didn't see me."

Three off-duty nurses who happened to be passing put him in a comfortable position while they waited for an ambulance.

Tony added: “There were lots of people who came over to help which really put me at ease.

“This could easily have been a fatal accident particularly had there been a child involved.”

He was treated at Russell’s Hall Hospital in nearby Brierley Hill where doctors treated his “life-changing injuries”.

A spokesperson for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 12.30pm on Friday 19th January to a road traffic collision involving a car and a pedestrian at the junction of Marlborough Street and Oxford Street in Kidderminster.

“One ambulance attended the scene. Upon arrival, we found an elderly man who was the pedestrian who had sustained serious injuries.

“He received treatment at the scene from ambulance staff before being conveyed to hospital.”