DEDICATED crew members from the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance have been given an award for their efforts at a complex incident in which a man lost an arm.

The crew won the Special Incident Award at the Air Ambulance Awards of Excellence ceremony.

The incident, in January, 2012, saw the crew called to a grain silo in Stoke St Gregory after a man had his arm trapped in machinery more than 40ft off the ground.

Pilot Max Hoskins, with paramedics Greg Peacock and Steve Freeman, assessed the scene with Greg climbing up to assist the patient.

Max then flew the helicopter to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton to collect a specialist team of emergency doctors to perform an amputation.

When he was finally released after more than an hour in severe pain in a precarious position, the crew flew the man to Musgrove for further treatment.

Dorset & Somerset Air Ambu-lance spokesman Tracy Bart-ram said: “We were represented in three categories, and winning the Special Incident Award means so much to the charity and the crew.

“We’re thrilled that the panel recognised the exceptional eff-orts of our team at the scene and the part they played in ensuring that the patient was flown to the hospital which could best meet his needs.”

The victim in the incident, who does not wish to be named, is understood to have made a good recovery from the trauma of the incident.