3 December 1998: According to a recent report, Royal Doulton chief executive Patrick Wenger has spoken his first words to his family since being injured in a car crash in Australia. The 54-year-old in…
3 December 1998: According to a recent report, Royal Doulton chief executive Patrick Wenger has spoken his first words to his family since being injured in a car crash in Australia. The 54-year-old industrialist, who lives in Newcastle (UK), was seriously injured last month when the taxi he was travelling in left the road and collided with a tree in Melbourne (see GlassOnline reports of 19 and 26 November). Since the road accident, in which he suffered severe chest and lung injuries, the report said, Wenger has been under sedation at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in the Victoria state capital. His wife Sheila, son Piers and daughter Lucie flew to Australia to be at his bedside as doctors fought to save his life, the report said. However, recently a spokeswoman for Royal Doulton said Wenger had recovered consciousness and had begun to respond to treatment. “Patrick is no longer under sedation. He is now fully conscious and communicating with his family. He is responding to treatment but he remains in the intensive care ward where his condition is still critical but stable,” the Stoke-on-Trent-based spokeswoman said. Dozens of goodwill messages for Wenger have poured into Royal Doulton“s Stoke headquarters since the accident, and have been forwarded by the company to Wenger and his family in Melbourne.