A Lyons man was lucky not to lose a foot when it was pinned between a tree and the weight of his tractor in a weekend accident.
Piet Snip was trapped for almost an hour before being freed in the accident which happened about 4pm yesterday.
He credits an ankle brace he was wearing after breaking the same foot weeks ago for saving it from being crushed or severed.
Mr Snip was grading his driveway when the tractor tipped while going around an uphill curve, pinning his left foot against the tree.
Mr Snip, 72, was trapped for about 20 mins before family heard him screaming for help from about 200 metres away. It took another 40 minutes to free him.
Police, fire crews, paramedics and a chopper were sent to the scene.
The family used car rims to try and take some of the weight off Mr Snip's foot. They cut sections of the tree away with a chainsaw to make it easier to move with a winch and chain.
"It wasn't even bruised," he said.
"But I feel like someone has hit me in the back with a baseball bat."
He said the accident happened when he cut the corner and the tractor tipped.
"It took off," Mr Snip said.
"It pulled the tree roots with it."
Daughter Kathryn said the family were terrified he would be seriously hurt, but Mr Snip was calm while they were trying to get him free.
"He was making jokes while on the tractor," she said.
"Even though he was in pain, he was making light of it."
Mr Snip is well known in the area for helping people fix their driveways with his tractor.
Miss Snip said her father would be back on it soon.
"He's pretty tough, old school," she said.
"He's still in the shed every day and fixing cars.
"He's 72 but still plodding along like he's in his 30s."
Mr Snip said he was lucky not to have suffered worse injuries.
"It was not my time," he said.
Mr Snip, who moved to Australia from the Netherlands in 1977, was discharged from QEII Jubilee Hospital on Sunday night.
