A YOUNG father feared for his life when he crashed just hours after passing his motorbike test.

Joss Ackland had ridden to Portslade to deliver a USB stick containing music for his friend’s wedding when he struck debris from a wooden pallet strewn across the road in Patcham.

The 27-year-old was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital with serious injuries.

Doctors told him he would not be able to continue in his work as a roofer.

Joss, who lives in Burgess Hill, said: “My mate was getting married the next day and we were going to ride to the church together to do something a bit different. He passed the test a couple of days before I did.

“I was in the middle lane and my friend was four or five cars behind me so I went to go into the slow lane. Then I saw a lot of debris in the road which looked like it had come from a wooden pallet.

“I struck it and went flying, skidding past seven lamp posts.”

Joss said he was lucky several passers-by stopped their cars and ran over to see if he was all right, including an off-duty doctor and paramedic.

Joss said: “You couldn’t make it up, it was like something out of a movie.

“I had to have my leathers cut off at the side of the road and then an ambulance arrived rushed me to hospital.

“If I had not been wearing protective gear I don’t think I would still be alive.”

Joss’s injuries included a broken ankle and doctors told him he would not be able to walk properly again.

He owns his own roofing company, but they said it was unlikely he would be able to continue this work.

Joss said: “I was going to have an operation on Thursday but they told me it was too swollen and I would have to wait another week.”

The crash happened last Friday and caused him to miss his friend’s wedding the next day. Joss was due to be best man.

Joss said: “I have two young kids as well, one is two and one is seven months old. It’s been killing me being away from them.

“I’m a very family oriented man and I keep wondering what the future is going to hold. I was earning OK money to provide for my family, but now I don’t know what my next step is.

“I want my life back, to go to work and do the things I enjoy. I could be at home with my kids rather than stuck in a hospital bed.”

A Sussex Police spokesman said emergency services were called to the scene north of the A23/A27 junction, close to the Pylons, just after 3pm on August 3.

They said a large crate or pallet was thought to have fallen from a lorry and it had been struck by other vehicles creating a lot of debris, which was then hit by Joss on his Honda CBR 600 RR-7.

They asked anyone who witnessed the incident or who has dash cam footage to contact them.