Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Tain biker: ‘SCAA saved my life’ after horror crash which left him in hospital for 13 weeks

Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) touching down at the scene at Elphin.
Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) touching down at the scene at Elphin.

A Tain man is thankful to be home after an outing last summer on his motorbike led to a life-threatening crash and 13 weeks in hospital.

Ernie Nicholson believes the crew of Aberdeen-based Helimed 79 saved his life after a collision at the end of September in Elphin on the North Coast 500 left him with horrific injuries.

Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) airlifted him from the scene in Lairg to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, taking around 20 minutes to travel the 70-mile journey.

Raigmore Hospital in Inverness

Mr Nicholson’s Kawasaki Vulcan collided with a campervan on a corner as he slowed to travel through the crofting township on the A835 Ullapool to Ledmore road.

He had been out on last ride with his bike club before the accident, and woke up face down on the road, which his broken wrists “facing the wrong way” and with broken bones in his right leg too.

He spent 10 hours in theatre as surgeons worked through the knife to set his bones.

‘SCAA saved my life’

Mr Nicholson, a legal document courier,  said: “It’s a twisty and bendy road, and it had been a long time since I had been there, and I saw a campervan off in the distance.

“I took a corner slightly wide and I think it did the same, and I hit the side of it and then all I remember is crunch.

“And then coming to lying on the ground, facedown with my elbows up in the air and a pile of people around me.

“The land ambulance crew didn’t want to move me and next I remember the SCAA crew coming out and introducing themselves to me in their red suits before someone gave me pain relief.”

He added: “SCAA saved my life. I think I would have been in a much worse state if I’d gone by road.

“The Inverness air ambulance was out at another job so there was no other way.”

After two weeks in Raigmore, the 49-year-old was transferred to Invergordon County Hospital and was only allowed home 11 weeks later on Christmas Eve.

Having settled back in at home, he told The P&J: “It’s been hard work but I am getting there, slowly. It all takes time.

“I’m moving about a lot more now due to the stairs in the house and with my dogs, Skye and Barney.

“I got to spend Christmas Day with my twin brother, Robert and my house-mate.

“Neighbours have come to the window for a blether, it’s been nice to be home for some normality.”

The former East Sutherland Rescue Association volunteer knows it will be a long journey to recovery and being free of the modified zimmer frame he is using to walk.

Fundraising for SCAA and plans to ride again

But he plans to organise a fundraiser for the charity which helped him survive the traumatic crash.

“I would hope to get back on a bike again,” he said.

“But it all depends on my wrists and how they feel for getting on to a bigger bike again.

“What I hope to do when Covid is in our past is a big bike run with the club and hold a barbecue at the other end of it to raise money for SCAA.

“We only have one government-funded helicopter in the Highlands and having another is far better cover for such a large area.

“If Inverness’ Helimed 2 is out on a job, there wouldn’t be an alternative to road ambulance without SCAA.”


Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance has made a huge impact since 2013, saving lives and preventing suffering. 

That is why the P&J campaigned successfully for SCAA’s second helicopter – call sign Helimed 79 – to be based in our region.

But this is an emergency service, taking off from Aberdeen Airport in April 2020, that relies entirely on donations. 

Each call-out costs about £2,500 and SCAA needs P&J readers to help hit its £6million target and get things off to a successful start.

So please do anything you can to raise those funds and show that We’re Backing Helimed 79.


Ways to donate to SCAA

  • Website: www.scaa.org.uk/donate
  • Text: Text ‘SCAA’ and the amount to 70085
  • Phone: 0300 123 11 11
  • Cheques: Made payable to ‘SCAA’ or ‘Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance’ and sent to: Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA), The Control Tower, Perth Airport, Scone, PH2 6PL