By BRIDGET SCOTT
ALL hailed a local bus driver last month after his mercy dash to Casey Hospital helped a young girl suffering an appendicitis attack.
Pakenham man Martin Fletcher from Ventura buses swapped his bus driver’s hat for that of a paramedic, after he was approached by an anguished father at the Berwick Train Station.
The man’s daughter was suffering an appendicitis attack when he asked Mr Fletcher about the arrival time of the 831 bus, which went through the Casey Hospital.
Mr Fletcher, who was awaiting his next bus run at the time, said he wasn’t sure but to jump aboard and he would take the pair to hospital.
“He was going to call triple-zero and I said I would have her there before the ambulance even came,” Mr Fletcher said.
“It’s only about a three or four minute drive there.”
Mr Fletcher said it all went so fast and the ordeal was over within a few minutes.
“I cleared it all back at the depot and it was over within about six minutes,” he said.
“I dropped her off then went on to my next run.”
The mercy dash attracted state-wide media when it got out after one of the bus driver’s mates called the 3AW rumour file.
Mr Fletcher said his main concern was for the welfare of the young girl, who he said looked no older than 12.
He said his parental instincts kicked in when he saw her in pain, and he wished he could have got her there faster.
“As long as she is all right,” he said.
“You don’t think, you just do it – you forget you’re a bus driver.”
He said as a parent, and as a grandfather of a 12-year-old girl he knew she wasn’t pretending.
“You can tell at that age when they’re bluffing,” he said.
He said he would love to hear how she is going and hoped to find out soon as the father was a regular on his bus.
