BALLARAT motorcycle identity Richard “Squid” Quiddington is in a critical but stable condition in a Queensland hospital after falling from a golf buggy.
Mr Quiddington’s son Ashley said yesterday his father was in an induced coma due to swelling on the brain.
However, he had stabilised yesterday and the swelling was going down.
“We’re just taking each day as it comes,” Ashley said.
Mr Quiddington was on Hamilton Island on a fishing trip when the accident happened about 9pm on Tuesday.
A Queensland police spokeswoman said Mr Quiddington was sitting on the back of the buggy and fell off when it rounded a corner.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital and operated on at 5am on Wednesday to remove part of his skull to release the pressure.
“The doctors have told us a little bit but they can’t say too much at this stage. They’ve done the best they can,” Ashley said.
Ashley, his three brothers and his mother have all rushed to Queensland to be at Mr Quiddington’s bedside.
The buggy’s female driver, aged 35, has been charged with drink-driving.
Mr Quiddington is the owner of Sebastopol motorcycle shop American Made Cycles.
It is the second serious accident to hit the shop in just six weeks, after staff member Stan Drechsler received burns to 50 per cent of his body while working around flammable liquid in the workshop on April 5.
Mr Quiddington is the son of the late Joyce Quiddington, who founded the well-known second-hand store Joyce’s Junkatique in Main Road.
