Tragedy will haunt paramedic forever

The 41-year-old paramedic said: "You take a little bit of each incident away with you ... and that buggy will stay with me."

Mr Nightingale, who has served Sussex Ambulance Service for 25 years, arrived at the scene of Sunday's A23 crash within six minutes.

He said: "It was a scene of total carnage. It was like something from a training scenario, only I don't think anyone could have made up something quite so bad as this.

"I can't recall a worse scene in all of my years."

Mr Nightingale, married with two children, was duty officer. He co-ordinated the ambulance response and maintained contact with hospitals.

It was an incident that started at 4.39pm and ended with an immediate debrief with colleagues. Many were grateful to unload what they had dealt with and all have been offered support and counselling.

Mr Nightingale arrived home at 10pm. His wife Susan, a staff nurse, had dinner waiting for him.

He said: "Susan is very supportive and knows I cope in two ways - I go quiet or noisy.

"She put my dinner on the table and afterwards I started making out my report while things were still fresh in my mind. I didn't go to bed until after midnight as I mulled things over."

Like his wife, Mr Nightingale's children, Hannah, 15, and Christopher 13, are used to their father dealing with trauma.

They were aware he had been involved the night before and spoke only briefly about it to him at breakfast yesterday morning.

He said: "They don't ask too many questions."

Scenes from the crash were still fresh in Mr Nightingale's mind.

He said: "For many years now I have lived each day to the full. You never know what might happen."

Mr Nightingale praised members of the public who helped the casualties at the scene.

He also praised his colleagues, saying: "We all worked exceptionally well together.

"It made me proud to be a member of the emergency services."

Any member of the public who helped at the scene and needs support should call 01273 402114.