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McColls Transport driver newest Bandag Highway Guardian

Brett Hood becomes fourth guardian of 2018 after crash assistance

 

Moama-based Brett Hood has become the fourth recipient of this year’s Australian Trucking Association’s (ATA) Bridgestone Bandag Highway Guardian honour after saving a woman’s life through his prompt response at a crash site in mid-October.

The McColl’s Transport driver was on a delivery to Brisbane when he found a man prone by the side of the road outside of Warwick.

Hood stopped to assist to discover the man had lost control of his vehicle, ending up over an embankment and injuring both occupants.

Hood immediately alerted emergency services and tended to the man’s girlfriend who was still trapped in the vehicle, applying pressure to a severe laceration on her leg in a bid to prevent blood loss before the ambulance arrived. She was subsequently airlifted to hospital.

Emergency services praised Hood’s efforts and believe the accident would have been a fatality without his intervention.

He was nominated for the Bridgestone Bandag Highway Guardian Award by McColl’s Transport national work health and safety manager Joe Boras, who described Hood as a model team member.

“Brett is an asset to our company. Our work requires flexibility of us all, due to changes in customers’ requirements that occur in the dairy industry, but Brett is one of those drivers that is happy to do any job anytime,” Boras says.


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ATA chairman Geoff Crouch says Hood’s actions were well beyond a truck drivers’ call of duty.

“Brett Hood displayed all the characteristics of a true hero. He was selfless in the way he came to the aid of the couple and saved the life of this woman. There is no doubt he deserves the title of Bridgestone Bandag Highway Guardian,” Crouch says.

“It is stories like Mr Hood’s that demonstrate the importance of first aid training and is another example of how the Australian trucking industry steps up in times of need.”

Award sponsor Bridgestone Australia and New Zealand managing director Stephen Roche also commended Hood.

“We take great pride in joining with the Australian Trucking Association in recognising incredible people such as Brett Hood. The Bridgestone Bandag Highway Guardian award is our way of recognising his prompt, lifesaving actions,” Roche says.

“Bridgestone Bandag Highway Guardians are a true asset to the trucking community and deserve to be praised for the way they respond to adversity.”

 

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