A FORMER ambulanceman who received the British Empire Medal for co-ordinating paramedics during an horrific train crash has died at the age of 93.

Stanley Skinner, from Bearsted, near Maidstone, almost certainly saved dozens of lives when a train came off the rails near Marden in 1969.

Mr Skinner, station officer at Maidstone Ambulance Station at the time, helped organise the rescue mission - made more difficult because the crash was in an off-road rural area and hard for ambulances to reach.

Although four people died in the crash, the fatalities could have been higher had the ambulances not travelled cross-country to get to the scene as quickly as possible.

As a result of his actions, Mr Skinner was awarded the BEM - a high honour for gallantry given in extremely rare circumstances by the Queen herself.

In 1967, Mr Skinner's first wife, Phyllis, died of cancer. Three years later he married Pamela Salter. Mr Skinner retired from the ambulance service aged 65 in 1976.

However his working life did not stop there, and he began helping out at BJ Norris Auctioneers, based at Maidstone Market, working there until he turned 90.

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