A MAN whose life was saved by emergency doctors is fundraising for the charity that rescued him.

Chris West, 20, from Downton, was near death after a car crash four years ago.

And when he did survive the crash in September 2009, when the car he was travelling in smashed into a tree on Somerley Road near Ringwood, he was not expected to walk or talk again.

He was cut free from the wreckage and spent eight months in hospital.

Mr West knows his survival and recovery is down to all the support he got – and BASICS Hampshire emergency doctor Sarah Assheton, who raced to the scene and managed to get him breathing before the ambulance arrived.

Now he is riding to Paris as part of a team in May for BASICS Hampshire, and will be kicking off his fundraising at The Bull in Downton this Sunday, riding on a static bike.

He said: “You can come and guess the distance I will ride and have a great lunch.

“I’ll be riding a static bike for two hours from midday – hoping people will either donate on the day or look us up at whohcycling.com or basicshampshire.co.uk.

“We’ll also be running a competition to see how many miles I do in two hours – I won’t know as the mileometer will be taped over until I stop. There’ll be a prize including a bottle of wine from The Bull.

“And my team will be coming down to support me so we’ll be doing the same thing in Fordingbridge on Saturday, April 19 and on the 26th.

“I hope it’ll do two things, raise money and get me fit for 400 kilometres of biking to Paris.”