An ambulance technician who died after an object pierced his vehicle’s windscreen had returned to the front line after retiring in 2020, his colleague said.Jeremy Daw, known to friends as Jack, died on Saturday morning when his ambulance was struck by an object as he responded to a 999 call in Herefordshire.The 66-year-old, who was in the front passenger seat at the time, had only returned to the West Midlands Ambulance Service in January this year, having retired as a paramedic in November 2020.Mr Daw, described as a “remarkable character” and “one of life’s good guys”, died at the scene while his paramedic crewmate – who was driving the vehicle – was also injured.West Midlands Ambulance Service emergency operations delivery director Nathan Hudson said the incident was a “tragic accident” and not believed to be “malicious”.He said the ambulance was responding to a 999 “category two” call shortly before 8am when it was struck by an object near the junction of Moreton Road and the A49, north of Hereford.Mr Hudson described Mr Daw, who had 29 years experience with the ambulance service and was from Hereford, as a “remarkable character”.“He was one of life’s good guys and he will be sorely missed in and around Hereford.“Everybody knew him and he was just a genuinely nice person.“If you speak to the staff at Hereford, what they remember is that he used to go out and clean the vehicles every morning, he would wipe the windscreens down.“He used to do that as a matter of course.
He took great pride in his work.”