A BICESTER police officer who helped a family survive a horrific car crash of ‘complete carnage’ has been awarded for his courage.

PC Gavin Morgan, based at Bicester Police Station, as well as two other Cherwell officers, have won a Thames Valley Police Federation Bravery Award.

PC Morgan was first to arrive at the awful crash which happened on the A34 on the outskirts of Bicester after coming across it on a normal patrol in April last year, at around 2am.

He was joined by colleagues PC Evonne Letch and PC Barry Payne around 20 minutes later at the devastating scene.

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The car involved was so damaged that it was impossible to see what make or model it was.

PC Morgan saw several lamp posts had been struck but there did not appear to be any other cars involved. The car had rolled over and smoke appeared to be coming from it.

On closer inspection, he could see there was a little boy trapped in the vehicle and the father had been thrown to the side of the road due to the sheer force of the incident.

The other child, a little girl, was wandering around by the side of the road with her hand severely injured.

With the girl clinging to his side, PC Morgan radioed in for assistance and tried to get the little boy out of the wreckage while the mother and father screamed in shock and pain.

As PC Morgan, who was covered in blood, attended to the boy, PC Letch and PC Payne checked on the father who had been driving the car.

All three officers gave first aid and the best care they could before the ambulance and fire crews arrived.

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Thanks to the bravery and professionalism of the officers, the family survived the horrific incident.

PC Morgan said: “I was being a police officer and the overriding thing about being a police officer is just to save a life.

“It was only afterwards, when they said, ‘Oh yeah, you’re going to get this commendation’, and all this, I was like, ‘What for? I’m just doing what the public expects. I’m doing what the job pays me to do’.”

PC Letch said it was the worst road traffic incident she had ever seen.

She said: “Hopefully, I’ll never see anything like it again. You don’t expect that anybody would have survived from what was left of the car.

“You just do your job, and I don’t think I did anything different than any of the colleagues that were there. You just do what you can at the time.”

PC Payne said: “When Evonne and I turned up to assist Gavin it was a scene of complete carnage - it was a chaotic scene. Communication and great teamwork came into place – we all figured out where we needed to be and what help we needed to give.

“I am truly, truly humbled to be winning this award.”

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Thames Valley Police Federation Chairman Craig O’Leary said the officers’ actions helped to save the lives of the family.

“It was a horrific incident, and the vehicle involved was almost totally destroyed. For there to be any survivors is due in part to the amazing dedication and bravery shown by Gavin, Barry and Evonne.

“They had to react quickly and think on their feet. We’re very proud of them.”

The officers will attend an awards ceremony in the Thames Valley Policing area today where an overall winner will be announced.

The awards are in association with JRM Mortgage Solutions and the hashtag for the event is #TVPFedBravery.