Concrete crushes farmer (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Concrete crushes farmer

10:38am Saturday 20th September 2008 in Chippenham By Scott McPherson

Farmer Irving Carter has made an amazing recovery after a concrete slab weighing almost one and a half tonnes fell on top of him while he was working at his farm last Friday.

Mr Carter, 51, of Carpenters Farm, Avon Lane, Chippenham, was in the middle of putting up a shed when the vertical slab fell on him crushing his legs.

Paramedics were called to the scene and the air ambulance took Mr Carter to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon for an emergency operation on his legs.

His wife Carolyn said that her husband has been extremely lucky.

She said: "Things could have turned out a lot worse than they did.

"The sheer weight of the slab could have crushed him.

"The ambulance service was fantastic. A crew arrived within six minutes and shortly afterwards Irving was taken to hospital.

"He will shortly be having a second operation but at this stage all we know is that he has broken a shin bone.

"I would just like to thank everyone who has helped my husband.

"If it was not for the air ambulance I would hate to think what might have happened.

"We are just praying Irving makes a full recovery."

The concrete slab that fell on to Mr Carter, an award winning dairy farmer, was approximately five foot by three foot in size and five inches thick.

A spokesman for the Great Western Ambulance Service said: "We were called out to the farm shortly before 2pm on Friday.

"Our paramedic soon realised the best way to deal with the situation was to air lift the gentleman to hospital immediately.

"One of the man's legs was trapped by the concrete block, which had to be carefully removed by the team at the scene."