JOHN Barter knew what to do when he encountered an accident and an injured man on his way to work.

The Ocado team manager, a veteran of three previous crash scenes, crawled into the wreckage of the vehicle and used his first aid skills to look after the victim until paramedics arrived.

And his quick thinking has won him a nomination from work colleagues for an in-house hero award.

Last Friday he was heading to his base at Faringdon when the accident happened near Stanford in the Vale. “I was just on my way to work and traffic was backing up a bit. As I went past I saw a car upside down so I shouted out the window to ask if there were any first aider present,” he said.

There was no one so he parked up and went over to the car to see if he could help. A woman was standing by the vehicle but a man was still trapped inside.

Negotiating the twisted metal and broken windows he got to the casualty, finding him on his back, having been released from his seatbelt.

As he checked him over for injuries he assured him he was going to be all right, at the same time asking questions.

“I tried to get as much information from him as I could. He was wearing an alert wristband,” John told the Adver. “The training comes back to you.”

It turned out the man had epilepsy and diabetes. He also appeared to be semi-conscious.

Grandfather of three John said: “My main objective was to keep him still and keep him talking. I just didn’t want him to pass out. I wanted him to remain conscious.”

He didn’t know how long he was in the car talking to the man and preventing him from moving, but thought it was probably more than 30 minutes. “It just seemed a long time.”

Oxfordshire Fire Service later said the couple in the car had a lucky escape because their car came to rest on a flat stretch of grass verge and they had been wearing seatbelts.

Crew manager Caroline Tilling said: “Several members of the public stopped and assisted by providing vital first aid ahead of our attendance and I would like to thank them.”

Around 25 years ago John, from Shrivenham, was caught up in a multi-vehicle smash on the M6 and dragged a woman out of her car after her petrol tank burst.

In 1990 he gave first aid to members of a coach party hit when a Landrover mounted the pavement.

Then four years ago he and a colleague swung into action, smashing the windscreen of an overturned lorry at Watchfield so medics could reach the driver.

And in 1995, when he was working for Stena Line, he was on a cross channel ferry when it grounded during a storm, meaning passengers were stuck on board for 24 hours.

This week John joked: “My family ask where I’m going to be on the road so they can avoid me.”

But when paramedics arrived he told them everything he could about the patient who was later freed from the car by firefighters.

Modest John was surprised to be nominated for the award. “It was just a natural thing I did,” he said. “I learned first aid through the company. It actually works, it’s very important.”

His proud sister Valerie said: “He is a very quiet person who keeps himself to himself but steps up to the mark when people need his help.”