A GRANDFATHER has said he has no plans to give up his motorbike despite having been airlifted to hospital twice.

Ronnie Murray, 54, a coach driver from Darlington, was travelling through Croft-on-Tees to head to work when he came off his motorbike, on August 5 last year.

He said: “It is all a blur, I can’t remember anything. I believe I took a tumble but there were no other cars involved. A driver stopped and phoned the police and the Great North Air Ambulance Service were called in.”

It was the second time he had need the air ambulance as he was airlifted to hospital after being involved in a collision with a motorbike in Pooley Bridge, Cumbria in July 2017.

On that occasion he was flown to Royal Preston Hospital, where an x-ray showed his injuries were not as severe as first thought and he only had bad bruising.

However, Mr Murray wasn’t as lucky the second time round and last year he sustained a broken neck, fractured skull and broken tibia after he crashed on Croft Road.

He was placed in an induced coma by the GNAAS paramedic and doctor team and flown to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where he spent two and a half weeks recovering.

He said: “I was woken up in hospital by these little lights (and voices) saying Ronnie, wake up, wake up, you’ve been here two and a half days, and you don’t know, you’ve been in an induced coma, you’ve had a motorcycle accident.”

Ronnie has made a good recovery and visited the GNAAS base at Durham Tees Valley Airport with his family, including his mother, grandfather, daughter and granddaughter.

He said: “These guys that I’ve just been here with now are magic. Absolutely stars. These guys are lifesaving guys and I would give my right arm for them.”

Despite being airlifted from two motorcycle incidents this hasn’t put Ronnie off from riding them. He said: “Motorbikes don’t frighten me, just unfortunately I fell off this one. I’m really absolutely blessed and glad that I’m alive here telling this story today. These guys are fantastic. They deserve every penny in every charity box all the time.”

Last year GNAAS was called out 1062 times and needed to raise £5.1m. To donate or help visit www.gnaas.com.