A teenager who suffered pain so excruciating it felt like a “bonfire in hisbones” after smashing his collarbone when his bike crashed into a tree toldhow he was rescued from the middle of a forest thanks to a special mobile app.Tom Allen, 15, was out cycling with his friend in Friston Forest, East Sussex– part of the South Downs National Park- on July 28, when a jump ended indisaster, after he misjudged the distance, hurtled into the air and collidedwith a tree.
Realising his injury was serious, he called an ambulance but,when he could not provide a specific location, paramedics instructed him todownload the what3words app on his phone, providing a three word address forhis location, which helped them to find him within 45 minutes.
Tom, ofSeaford, East Sussex, whose frantic mum Lorna, 52, a charity worker, alsofound him using the app, recalled: “I have a full suspension mountain bike andit’s a jump I’ve done so many times before – a really easy one.
“This time, Ithought I would go bigger and higher, but I went too high and too far and didnot have time to correct myself.
It was so high I went over my friend who wasin front of me.
“I realised mid-air that I was about to hit this tree and thatI’d have to brace myself.”