Man saves driver from burning car, then sues him

A MAN who rescued a trapped motorist from a burning car is now suing the driver for £400,000 because of the effect on his health.

Gordon Sansbury pulled Alexander Guthrie from the vehicle after it crashed into his house and burst into flames.

But Mr Sansbury says he suffered problems caused by the accident, which led to the loss of his job in the offshore oil industry. Lawyers acting for Mr Guthrie have admitted liability in the action at the Court of Session in Edinburgh but claim that the sum he is seeking is excessive.

Mr Sansbury, 44, was at home in St Monans, in the East Neuk of Fife, on an evening in November 1996 when the crash occurred. He looked out to see flames and saw the driver was still in the car and tried to free him, but the door wouldn't open.

Mr Sansbury said the "smoke was increasing by the second", but he eventually freed the semi-conscious driver. "I was coughing profusely. I couldn't really breathe properly," he said.

Both Mr Sansbury and Mr Guthrie, of Braehead Road, Pittenweem, in Fife, were taken to hospital. Mr Sansbury was discharged but said he had to keep going back to see a chest specialist for breathing difficulties.

Mr Sansbury, now of Prestatyn, North Wales, was later diagnosed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Lawyers for Mr Guthrie claim that some of the psychiatric symptoms from which he suffered after the accident had been caused or worsened by other events, including the death of his wife. The hearing before Lord Hodge continues.