#HumberBravery: Officer whose car was driven into at speed when he tried to stop an erratic driver travelling the wrong way wins Bravery Award

8 June 2023

An officer whose car was driven into at speed when he tried to stop an erratic driver travelling the wrong way down a dual carriageway has won a Humberside Police and Federation Bravery Award.

At around 2am on Sunday 2 January 2022, the police received several 999 calls relating to a car travelling the wrong way along the A63 and driving erratically.

PC Tom Elvidge attended the scene, closely followed by two of his colleagues.

When PC Elvidge was approximately a mile from Melton Interchange, he saw the suspect’s vehicle travelling towards him, still on the wrong side of the road and six miles from where it had initially been seen.

PC Elvidge illuminated the front blue lights on his police car, slowed down and came to a stop between lanes one and two, in an attempt to get the vehicle to stop without causing any harm to members of the public.

Unfortunately, the driver ignored this and made no attempt to slow down or alter the car’s path. He drove head-on into the police car at high speed, causing substantial damage to both cars and injuring PC Elvidge.

The driver of the car – Super League rugby player Brad Takairangi - pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and drink driving at Hull Crown Court in April last year. He was uninjured, but PC Elvidge suffered injuries to his left knee and neck, as well as psychological damage and is still receiving treatment.

The judge suspended Takairangi's 12-month jail term for two years and ordered him to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work, including coaching young rugby players in Hull.

This incident came very soon after four fatal road traffic collisions on the same carriageway, which also involved a vehicle unlawfully driving the wrong way. PC Elvidge would have been acutely aware of the danger to his own life.

PC Elvidge said: “They calculated he drove 8.8 miles the wrong way. So he’d avoided loads of cars, but behind me in lane two was a family car with a load of people in, and if he hadn’t hit me, he’d have hit them.

“It was one of those things where I knew I had to do something. I’ve got ongoing back problems from it. They’re not going to change my life or anything but if he’d have hit the side of my door I probably would have broken my legs.”

On winning the Award, he added: “It’s nice that someone’s put me forward for this and I appreciate it. But at the same time, I don’t expect anything. Would I do it again if I had to? I would, yeah. But would my family be happy if I did it again? Probably not.”

Humberside Police Federation Chair Lee Sims said: “This selfless act took great courage and shows how Tom was willing to risk his own safety to protect members of the public.

“A lorry driver who was at the scene said: ‘He’s a hero for what he has done.’ What he did and the courage it took should not be underestimated. It is purely by chance that Tom has not suffered very, very serious injuries or worse and is here to tell his version of events.

“We are very proud of his bravery and he is a worthy winner.”

PC Elvidge will attend the first Humberside Police and Federation Bravery Awards on Thursday 16 June.

At the event a winner will be announced who will travel to London for the National Police Federation Bravery Awards in July.

The lead sponsor for the Awards is The Northern Police Healthcare Scheme.

Also sponsoring the Awards are Serve and Protect Credit Union, No 1 Copperpot Credit Union, Metfriendly, Taylor Law, Niche, JMW Solicitors, New Park Court and The Humberside Police Welfare & Benevolent Fund.

The hashtag for the event is #HumberBravery.