They had booked a buggy tour in Estepona to surprise their 15-year-old cousin, who was visiting the Costa del Sol. They had only . been driving for a few minutes when the vehicle Raymond was in overturned, and his left arm became trapped underneath it: “I woke up in hospital and was told that, due to the severity of the injuries, the limb had to be amputated.”It happened on 2 July 2019. At the time, Raymond was 29 years old and living life to the
full in Benalmádena. “I was working as a waiter, going to the gym, and making plans with my friends and my girlfriend,” he recalls.It has taken almost seven years for Raymond, represented by lawyer Joaquín Fernández-Crehuet, to reach an agreement that will compensate him for the serious, life-changing injuries.Related story general Auto No No Man wins €300,000 payout seven years after losing arm in Estepona buggy accident Irene QuiranteHis life changed that morning, after booking the excursion as a family. “We thought about booking the
trip for my cousin, who was visiting Spain. We thought a buggy tour would be a good plan,” says Raymond. His girlfriend (now his wife) and his uncle also joined the adventure, which promised guided trails, dirt roads, and panoramic views.Once at the meeting point, Raymond explained, the guide told them they would have to wait for another couple to arrive. After about half an hour, when the other couple failed to show up, they set off after being shown how the buggies worked and
given a pair of goggles for the dust.”The guide went first, I was driving behind him with my girlfriend next to me, and in third place were my uncle and my cousin,” he says.According to the British man, they set off at around 10.30am and, almost from the start, he felt the guide was going too fast. “I don’t know if it was because he was running out of time and had to make up for lost time because we had left late, but he
was less and less visible,” he says. As he explains, they entered a stretch of twists and turns, with ups and downs, until they reached a fork in the road: “At that point I could only see dust, I could no longer see the driver.””I woke up in hospital and was told that, due to the severity of the injuries, it was necessary to amputate the limb.”According to Raymond it was then, while trying to see which direction the guide had gone, that he lost
control of the vehicle, which became unstable after going over a mound. “All I know is that it overturned and then slid down a few metres,” he says. From then on, his memories fade. “I remember that I couldn’t get up, and then I looked up and saw that my arm was trapped.”The family experienced minutes of pure anguish afterwards. They were lost, the young man was severely injured, and none of them had a phone signal to call for help. “My uncle started to
walk around with his mobile phone to see if he could find a signal because there was no way to make a call,” he says. “I don’t know how long it was before a man, who I think was a neighbour from a nearby farm, passed by,” he explains. He was the one who managed to alert the emergency services.He does not know how long it took for the local police, the fire brigade, and the ambulance to arrive. The little he remembers, he says,
is that they tried to calm him down and that he could still move the fingers of his left hand, even though his arm was still trapped. According to Raymond, the guide didn’t realise he had lost the group for quite some time. “He didn’t come back until about 40 minutes later, by which time the ambulance was already there,” he reckons.Once he was freed by the fire brigade, the ambulance transferred him to a medical helicopter for an emergency evacuation to hospital. What little
he remembers is that his wife told him not to look at his arm and that he asked for it to be covered.A new realityHis life changed, but his mental strength was decisive in facing his new reality, in which he had to relearn how to function without a limb. The first three months, Raymond says, were the most difficult, but throughout the process he had the support of his family and his wife, which was key. “They were with me and I decided that
I would get through it, so that’s what I did.”Within a year, he was back in control of his life. As soon as the wound began to heal, he says, he sold his old car to buy an automatic and had it adapted. “I passed my driving test again so I could drive it. And so I went back to normal life; I also watched videos of people like me who have overcome losing a limb. And I said to myself that yes, I had
to go on, of course,” he explains.He also welcomed a dog into his home. “My wife was working and we decided to get some company,” he says. Gradually, he started meeting up again with his friends from work and also with people he met while out walking his pet, making plans to go for walks.Raymond also went back to the gym and supplemented his physical activity by hiking. “Everything went well for me,” he says, optimistically. He later found a job as a security assistant
in a company that works with people with disabilities, where he spent a year.The judicial journeyThroughout this process, both his family and friends advised him to take his case to court, and in 2020 he contacted his lawyer, Joaquín Fernández-Crehuet. He has accompanied Raymond on a legal journey which, in the words of his lawyer, has been “particularly complex”. According to him, the procedure was “delayed for years due to difficulties with notifications, despite the fact that the company was fully aware of the lawsuit”.According
to Fernández-Crehuet, the company organising the excursion denied any kind of responsibility from the very beginning. So much so that it was not until 2025 that the preliminary hearing was held in court, with the company declared in default and only the insurance company attending.The lawyer explains that the insurer, far from assuming any responsibility, tried to blame Raymond as the driver of the buggy and claimed limits of cover in the policy. However, the prosecution’s arguments were solid, since neither Raymond nor his family
had received any prior safety information about the risks, in addition to having suffered the “passive attitude” of the company after the accident.Finally, an agreement has been reached which grants the young man financial compensation for the after-effects of the accident. “Although the compensation will never cover the damage, it is a recognition of the injury and the procedural effort,” says the lawyer, who stresses that Raymond’s perseverance has made him a “clear example of resilience” in the face of companies that gamble on victims
withdrawing from a case.”The settlement was a victory because it has been many years in the waiting; even though we didn’t go through a trial, I needed to close this chapter”.In all these years, Raymond says, he has not received any communication from the company. “Not a message, not a phone call, nothing, not even when I was in hospital,” he says. Now, he says, it is he who wants nothing to do with them. “The agreement has been a victory in the end because
it has been many years of waiting; even though we didn’t go to trial, I needed to close this chapter,” he admits.He can now look into investing in a high-quality prosthesis, which are quite expensive, as cheaper models involve a fitting process that is often quite complicated. “The cheaper ones are heavier and take months to get used to, plus they can cause damage to the residual limb,” he says. “It’s not a question of just putting the prosthesis on.”At this point, Raymond prefers to
look to the future rather than the past. In 2023 he went to London to study Business Management. For the time being, he will remain there until he completes his degree, although his intention is to return to live on the Costa del Sol. “I have part of my family here and I come back several times every year; I imagine myself setting up my company here and having my home here,” he shares. With the determination that characterises him, there is nothing he cannot
achieve.
Estepona buggy crash, Raymond compensation, arm amputation, Joaquín Fernández-Crehuet, Benalmádena, Costa del Sol, prosthesis