A builder who says he owes his life to the prompt action of paramedics after a serious accident has started a petition to help the ambulance worker who was speeding while carrying a transplant organ.

David Drake was taken to hospital unconscious after plunging 45 feet from the roof of his home in Norwood Road, Shipley 16 months ago.

He suffered serious head injuries, a broken jaw and cheekbone, and a permanent metal plate was inserted in his badly smashed femur.

Today Mr Drake, 55, and his wife Pam, said they believed his life had been saved by the fast response from the ambulance service and the say the law should be changed.

Mike Ferguson, of Birkenshaw, Bradford, is being prosecuted for allegedly travelling at 104mph on the A1 in Lincolnshire as he travelled from St James's Hospital in Leeds to Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, with a liver for transplant.

His case will be dealt by Grantham magistrates on June 11. He has indicated he will plead not guilty.

The 56-year-old could lose his licence and even his job if the prosecution goes ahead.

Mr Drake, who is sending his petition to friends, neighbours and colleagues, is still recovering from his injuries but says he is prepared to go to court if necessary to help Mr Ferguson. The petition calls for a change in the law to protect crews on mercy dashes and appeals to the magistrates to show mercy.

Mr Drake, who was in Leeds General Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, for 19 weeks after his accident said: "I want people to show their support for him. There is something very wrong in a law which can penalise people for saving lives.

"We are speaking from first-hand experience. I believe his life was saved and his recovery would not have been as it is but for the speed of the treatment."

Public services unions, the GMB and Unison, and a man whose life was saved by an organ donation, say Mr Ferguson, a driver with West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service should not be prosecuted.

But Lincolnshire Chief Constable Richard Childs has defended the decision and said the case could clarify the traffic law relating to vehicles carrying organs for transplant.