A CLACTON man has received MP Nigel Farage's support in a national campaign for injured emergency workers.
Paul Jones, 59, is a former Essex Police officer who served in Harlow and Epping Forest for four years before being paralysed in a tragic accident.
He was hoping to get MP Nigel Farage's support for the Injury on Duty Award Scheme.
The scheme is fighting to get recognition for police officers, paramedics and firefighters who have been seriously injured at work.
But after multiple unanswered emails over a year, Mr Jones received no response from the Reform UK leader until the Gazette stepped in last week.
After Reform UK claimed not to have received the emails, Mr Farage is now in full support of the campaign.
Mr Jones is one of thousands of officers who have lost their jobs after being seriously injured at work.
He said: "In 1989 I was sent out to an incident in a police car when the young driver clipped a kerb and sent us into some trees.
"It brought the car's roof down onto my shoulders and crushed my back which completely paralysed me.
"I became a paraplegic in seconds and I had to be cut out of the vehicle.
"I was badly banged up and at one point my lungs were filled with blood.
"After waking up in Buckinghamshire Hospital it was quite a shock, but at least I was alive."
After a year of "learning to live life from a different perspective" in a wheelchair, Mr Jones was eventually encouraged to go back to work.
He said: "I was sent back on desk duty, where I really was not treated very well.
"On Christmas Eve, in 1992, I got my medical discharge letter and my life changed.
"The big welcoming family I went into when I started my career did not look like a big family any more because it seemed like 'once you can't do it any more you're not in the family any more'.
"Fortunately I had enough contacts in the force who helped me get a job in police intelligence, which I did for seven years."
"A House of Commons debate is expected to take place in the coming weeks.
"Brave Paul Jones suffered a horrendous injury, but has nothing whatsoever to show even a connection to the police service, let alone his health and career sacrifice.
"In England, Wales and Northern Ireland there are a total of 16,267 severely injured on duty former police officers who also have no medal recognition.
"Unfortunately, I have no numbers for firefighters or paramedics, who are equally deserving.
"There is an urgent need to correct the national disgrace of the forgotten injured who are unable to continue with their service."
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