A delivery driver who performed life-saving first aid after a serious crash says she believes she was drawn to the scene by fate.

First-aider Tiff Smith, 30, had been picking up orders at a Chinese restaurant in Rainham High Street on Tuesday night, when a motorbike collided with a car nearby, leaving a 17-year-old with serious injuries.

Having rushed straight to the scene, the mum-of-two was able to keep the injured teenager’s airways open and perform compressions, before paramedics arrived and the teenager could be flown to hospital in London.

Tiff, from Chatham, described how she was about to drive away from the restaurant, when she heard a “massive crash”.

“I just ran from my car and was the first to get to him,” said Tiff, who is hoping her experience will lead to others learning first aid.

“I literally saw him go over the car. He bounced and landed in the road the other side, and his helmet came off after impact.

“The driver got out the car straight away. She had her head in her hands.

“He looked in a bad way. He was twisted all over the place. His leg was twisted and wrist was broken. His pelvis was twisted.”

Having learnt first aid for years as a Cadet, Tiff’s training quickly kicked in and she was able to take control of the situation.

“I knew the first thing I had to do was secure his airway and make sure it was open,” said Tiff. “My first aid training came back like it was yesterday.

“I moved his chin back and pushed his forehead down to open up the airway, and when I did that he gasped so I could tell he wasn’t breathing properly before, but his breathing stayed laboured and was shallow.”

Meanwhile, another woman at the scene had called the emergency services, and relayed information as Tiff performed compressions.

“They said to just keep going until the ambulance crew arrived,” added Tiff. “When the paramedics arrived they said ‘keep going’, and I thought 'what do you mean, you're here now', but he was going through equipment.

“Then he took over and intubated him to hold the airways open and gave him oxygen.”

“Once the ambulance took him off I just broke down in tears. I didn't sleep on Tuesday night, and phoned King’s College Hospital the next morning, they said ‘he's made it through the night and he will survive’.

“It's still very raw. One minute I'm crying and the next minute I'm happy that I did something.

“I have to keep busy. As soon as I stop my brain just takes me back there and it was quite traumatic.”

But she says she might not have been there at all, but for a series of chance circumstances.

“There were too many things to make it a coincidence,” she added. “I'm not a religious person but I do believe in fate, and that everything happens for a reason.

“I was not meant to be available because my ex partner has a meeting every Tuesday, but this week it had changed.

“Normally I help at a restaurant in Rochester, but they asked me to go to Rainham, and I nearly didn’t go. I thought about saying no but I said yes and went there.

“When I came out of the Chinese with two deliveries - if I had just had one I would have pulled out and I think he would have hit me. But I had two, so I was checking my sat nav to work out the route when the crash happened.”

Tiff is now planning to launch a petition to call on first aid to be included in the curriculum at schools, and says she hopes the incident will lead to more people learning life-saving skills.

Having been in the Cadets for 12 years, she also went to Germany with St John Ambulance to take part in a first aid competition as a teenager – all vital experience which drummed knowledge and skills into those who took part.

She added. “All of the first aid training has stayed with me because it was taught in a way that you remember.

“That's what I've taken away from Tuesday. I really want young people to have that training, because most kids don't even know what the recovery position is.”

The motorcyclist remains in a London hospital, in a stable condition.