Gorleston man's arm impaled on hook
An 85-year-old Gorleston man had to be cut free by firefighters when his arm became impaled on a shopping trolley hook on his walking frame.Retired railway worker Leslie Patterson suffered the freak accident at about 10.
An 85-year-old Gorleston man had to be cut free by firefighters when his arm became impaled on a shopping trolley hook on his walking frame.
Retired railway worker Leslie Patterson suffered the freak accident at about 10.50am today as he was moving a sack of potatoes from the shed to the kitchen at his Wadham Road home.
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Mr Patterson's wife Sylvia, 82, looked on in horror as her husband tripped on the step from the passage into the kitchen and found himself face down with the hook sunk more than an inch into the flesh of his forearm.
Back home this afternoon after his arm had been bandaged at the nearby James Paget Hospital, he said: 'I was reaching for a grab handle on the wall and finished up in a heap.
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'I am just lucky it missed an artery. The hook was sunk in a good inch and I could not move - I was stuck to the walking frame.'
His wife described it as 'panic stations' as her husband lay on the floor screaming for her to call an ambulance.
She said: 'Our neighbours always tell us to call them if there is a problem, but no one was home. I raised the alarm by pressing my husband's Yare Care alarm buzzer.'
First to arrive was a paramedic, but he found the hook so firmly embedded he did not want to move it straightaway for fear of causing further damage.
Firefighters were called and one of the crew members cut through the metal of the three-wheel frame and removed it, enabling the paramedic to prise out the hook.
Keeping the remains of the frame as a souvenir, Mr Patterson said: 'It does not seem possible that a little hook like this caused such a lot of trouble.
'It was all a bit embarrassing. As first the paramedic and then the fire engine turned up, I thought, 'Oh, my god'.'
His wife said: 'I have never liked the three-wheel frames. We will be looking for one with four wheels for more stability.'
