An ambulance driver seriously injured in a crash in Derbyshire in September 2001 is hopeful of getting a better compensation deal after he took his case to Downing Street.

Nick Horobin, 36, from Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, suffered serious head injuries and lost an eye when a brick was thrown through the window of the ambulance he was driving. The ambulance crashed and overturned on the A52 at Shirley Hollow in Derbyshire.

Mr Horobin has now handed a 3,500 name petition to Downing Street with the hopes that pressure form Whitehall will help him get a higher settlement. He had previously turned down an offer of £10,000 for loss of earnings, £1,500 for scarring and £27,000 for loss of an eye.

Mr Horobin says that the £38,500 he was offered is ridiculous, when some agreements for similar injuries suffered in civil cases had been as high as £200,000. He now hopes to train as a nurse but said he needs financial security to do this.

The former paramedic had hoped to speak to the Health Secretary Alan Johnson personally but said the visit was a success nonetheless. He said: “I am sure he (the health secretary) has the power to do it- and perhaps the pressure of me being there will make a difference. I don’t see how they cannot change their minds. There wasn’t a fair appraisal of what I’ve been through. It’s about making people see that the tariff system being used at the moment is unfair. People aren’t getting enough money and it just isn’t right.”

He has received his pension from the East Midlands Ambulance Service but no other compensation as of yet.