A PARAMEDIC who used his head when faced with a height has scooped a national award for his quick-thinking.

Hereford’s Lincoln ‘Tiny’ Dodd was named paramedic of the year at the Ambulance Service Institute annual awards for the part he played in saving the lives of two people.

Lincoln, who stands 6ft 8ins tall, was the first on the scene when a fire spread through a home in Belmont, Hereford, last year.

He used his height to his advantage in rescuing the couple by letting them clamber from the first-floor window and out onto his shoulders.

He said: “The award was a bit of a bolt out of the blue, but very nice all the same. To be honest I was just doing my job.”

The West Midlands Ambulance Service scooped five other awards at the ceremony, including ambulance service of the year for the fifth time.

The ambulance service also came out on top at the Excellence in the Community Awards – a ceremony held to honour members of the public from across the West Midlands region who have gone beyond the call of duty.

The event, held last month, saw Chris Jones from Hereford presented with the long service award for the 16 years he has spent as a voluntary car driver.

Shaun Davies, an emergency medical technician based in Hereford, won the Olympic award in recognition of his work at the London Games.

Loraine Coleman, the coordinator with Herefordshire Heartstart, was awarded the community training and defibrillator award for her work in providing training to all local communities and schools across the county.

Roger Hayward of Halo in Herefordshire was awarded the community defibrillator award for his work in training staff in safety issues at leisure premises, and Richard Baker of South West Herefordshire Community First Responders was presented with the lifetime achievement award.