Impaled dad nearly loses arm in crane crush horror

Scott Ashton, 24, was crushed by the machine he was operating while clearing a garden in north Leeds.

He was left with a huge wound on his arm and multiple broken bones which had to be pinned and plated in a six hour operation.

The young father said he was lucky not to lose his arm.

Hero fireman Chris Wilson who helped him at the scene kept him calm while the emergency services used hydraulic equipment to free Mr Ashton.

“I was panicking. I had a big hole in my arm and thought the bone had come through and snapped,” said mr Ashton.

“I realised it was the crane spike and that made it worse. I would have lost it but he kept me calm and let me sit on his knee and bent down.

“He was in pain himself, I am 14 stone, and I just wanted to say thank you – what else can you say?”

The road was closed in Adel while Mr Ashton was freed from the crane.

He can’t remember how he got impaled as it happened so fast but Mr Ashton added in his panic he hit a lever on the crane which turned the machine back on himself causing the crush.

Later that day he had the operation at Leeds General Infirmary to fix his arm and while it will be a long road to recovery he is expected to regain full use of his arm again.

Fire-fighter Chris, based at Rawdon station, said it was nice to get feedback.

He said: “We don’t normally get to find out what has happened afterwards so I am glad he is on the mend.

“You can imagine how scary it was for him. When I first saw him I thought he could lose his arm as all you could see was it hanging.”