Off-roader who lost eye in Rutland crash returns to work

A man who lost his eye when his head got crushed between a tree and his car at an off-roading event is returning to work five months after the accident.

A cable in Neil Granger's car snapped and he lost control while reversing up a hill at the event at Tixover Quarry, in Rutland, on 7 April.

The 49-year-old said his car shot down the hill and his head was forced out of the window, leaving it trapped.

He remained in an induced coma for a week after the crash.

Mr Granger said three people lifted him out of the car at the scene and kept him breathing until the ambulance arrived.

Mr Granger, from Willingham in Cambridgeshire, said: "I don't remember anything that happened from five minutes before until the week after."

The air ambulance crew treated him at the scene and he was then taken to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.

After losing one eye, Mr Granger said his vision in the remaining eye had become much stronger and he was given his driving licence back in June.

Mr Granger, who works on overhead electricity power lines, is going back to his job for the first time on Monday.

"I am ready to go back. All I am doing is looking forward," he said.

He added that the accident would not stop him returning to off-roading.

"It is part of life, accidents happen."

Mr Granger said he now wanted to raise money for the air ambulance to thank crews for helping to save him, including organising a fundraising event on 13 October.

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