I was run over by a lorry, I think about 28 tonnes. I was cycling over to a girl’s house that I was seeing, and I don’t know what happened, because I was in a coma for two weeks. And because there was two cameras and one was pointing the wrong way and one was out of film, and there were two witnesses who disagreed about what happened. I went into a coma.

The lorry ran me over at the chest and sort of crushed a couple of vertebrae and broke my shoulder, shattered my shoulder, and broke pretty much every rib I have into like three or four pieces and I think I was, I had my lungs collapsed. I was kind of like dying. And then the rapidI was quite close to [hospital name] and the rapid response people got out there.

And they sliced into my chest, and on the road and resuscitated me, and then sped me to hospital. So it was, it was quite a familiar place where it happened actually on [street name] and yeah, and I was, then I was sort of dying, and in a coma and in and out of things.

I suffered a severe spinal cord injury in September 2005 at the age of 25. I was living and working in London at the time. Three years after graduation from university I went on holiday to Portugal with a number of friends. One day while on the beach I went down to the water for a swim, dived into the water into a wave off my feet, and suffered a spinal fracture of the neck, resulting in immediate paralysis from the neck downwards. And I suppose luckily I had two friends that were with me at the time, because obviously complete paralysis means you can’t move. So I was face down drowning in the water but the two friends and some passers-by managed to get me out of the water in time, on to the beach. I have to say that it was a fairly painless experience, and certainly the most difficult sensation was drowning.

And so the plastic surgeons came, the bone doctors came and microbiology doctor came and they, then the microbiology doctor said, What there is growing in ther – and then obviously looking at the x-rays – he was saying, It would be very, very difficult to actually completely clear it of infection. It would be, you know, four months of intravenous antibiotics then goodness knows how long oral antibiotics And unfortunately, well fortunately for me, but unfortunately for the plastic surgery team was that the pain wasn’t being controlled properly. So I was saying to them, Well yes, I can see that your new fangle dangle machine is healing the tissue, but I can’t put any weight on it So for me to be able to get back to work and you know, back to normal life it’s no good because I can’t use it as a foot, and an ankle and a leg. And because that would then be, you know, like a planned amputation, their procedure, which is right to make sure everybody, you know, the person who’s asking for the amputation and the doctors that are, you know, going to perform it, you know, we had meetings with the psychologist, the leg amputation team, the plastic surgeons, the orthopaedics, who after discussion and discussion with me, and you know, they’d because I’d known them for years they were able to say, Ambrose has had this for a long time. He knows what it feels like. He knew when we first did the reconstruction there was a chance, well not a chance, it probably would need taking off at some point in the future, and it appears that we’ve got to that point now. That now is the right time to have it amputated

Bill’ Yes. It is bizarre. But you remember it, that’s the thing. And I remember screams as well, but it turns out actually when I spoke to the girl, she got prosecuted dangerous driving and after she pled guilty and after the case had been settled in the Magistrates Court, we were outside and she just came up to me, she ran up to me, and she flung herself in to my armsYeah. And she just said, Sorry, I’m sorry

Catherine’ I’ll never drive again she said didn’t she?

Bill’ And I said That’s stupid and I was crying as well. It was stupid of course you’ve got to drive agai. I said, to her, You’re only a young girl Her parents were very concerned, because apparently they’d see both sides of it. And I’m not sure of the whole story, but obviously the daughter had done this to me, but I think somewhere in their family there was a victim as well, so they, they’ve experienced both sides of it, and we think, from lots of different other things that actually we’ve been at a funeral a few years previously of this girl’s aunt. And the aunt, Catherine had nursed in hospital, and because Catherine sings or did at that point in time, she was asked to sing at the funeral, as a personal request by the person that had died. And we think this girl was actually at this funeral. So we’d met but not met. Our paths had crossed and gone again. But the mother asked whether or not, how I felt about her. And I, i.e. her daughter, and I said, Well I don’t think I can ever forgive her, but I don’t hate her And I’m still of that opinion. I’ve tried to forgive, but I, you know, I’ve been through so many problems subsequent to, you know, to the accident, that I don’t, I don’t think she deserves to be forgiven. But I haven’t got it in my heart to hate her, because she didn’t mean it. No she didn’t mean it.

And I think they were grateful for that, so I don’t know how other people would deal with it, but that’s the way I dealt with it, you know, because if she had deliberately, you know, done a stupid move or manoeuvre or anything, you know. But it wasn’t; she thought she had a green arrow there and she just made a split decision well a decision in a moment of a time, you know, a split second decision. And got it wrong. And you know, I shouldn’t hate her for that. But she doesn’t deserve forgiveness. Maybe I will at some point in life, I don’t know. Maybe? I don’t know.

You got to wonder whether it’s all been changed for some reason or not, you got to wonder about that, whether it’s God’s will or something. I don’t know. Highly unpleasant to say the least. But yeah, you’ve got to wonder why it happened to you anyway. I mean most people are going to think that, why me? You know, what have you done? I don’t know. Apparently I overdress. There we are. So, yeah, I guess I have been dressing down for a while. I certainly have, you know, actually for a long time I really wouldn’t get dressed at all, you know, in my regard to dressing. Dress down I suppose.

You would have dressed down since your injury?

Oh totally. Yeah, you feel much more vulnerable well you’re well dressed. You know, nice three piece, Harris Tweed. Saville Row tailored suit, well you know… I mean I suppose that’s part of the reason they say, you know, you’ve drawn attention to yourself. But, you know, when that’s what you sell, that’s what you’re going to wear so. That is the downside to that one.

And who suggested that you overdressed or that you dressed too well?

Well, you know, somehow it’s, I think people like to think it’s your fault somehow, that you encouraged it. You know, I think that’s the idea. I think generally most, somehow if you’re the victim of crime, somehow you asked for it. That’s what people are trying to infer. Wellthat’s what, yes a lot of, someone’s got to be guilty and if they can’t find the person then obviously it’s you. And I suppose dressing in a certain way will draw attention to yourself, much in the same way if a women is raped, you know, the idea that she might have dressed in an inappropriate way has drawn attention to her, and therefore that’s the reason. Well it’s that kind of logic.

But you know, if you work in the world of fashion you just sort of, that’s just the way it is, you know. It would not be possible for me to function badly dressed really. It just wouldn’t work. Casual’s fine. But I’m perhaps a little bit too sharp for some people.