Translation app helps crash victim

A British 999 worker downloaded a mobile phone application to translate a conversation with a crash victim.

Nicola Draper used the Medical Polish translator tool to ascertain injuries to the lorry driver, who had been involved in a collision in Colchester, Essex.

She said: “It’s a great tool. It allowed me to communicate with the patient without the need for an interpreter or the cost to the service of using the language line.”

A spokesman for the ambulance station in Witham, Essex, Gary Sanderson added: “Ambulance crews have to make quick decisions and think on their feet.

“They have access to a language line and carry multilingual phrase books, but Nicola used her initiative with the iPhone app.

The motorist was treated and later continued with his journey.