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A critically-hurt driver sits impaled to his truck by a pole - moments after calmly telling his boss: "I'm in a spot of bother."

Jason Ripley, 39, was speared just inches from his heart when a loose barrier hidden by overgrown bushes bounced on to the bonnet and through his windscreen.

But without a hint of panic, the dad-of-two grabbed his phone, called work and explained his horrific plight to colleagues.

He revealed: "There was seven or eight feet of pole sticking out. It could have been the adrenaline but I managed to stay calm.

"I told my boss, 'I've had a bit of an accident', or, 'I'm in a spot of bother'.

"I don't think they understood, but something must have clicked because they called me back and I told them, 'I'm not messing about, I'm dying'.

"I didn't pass out. I don't know if it was the shock, but I didn't feel any pain. It was only two or three inches from my heart. I was just staring at the sky, thinking that's it, I'm going to die."

Jason had been delivering timber to an industrial estate and had fortunately been driving slowly when he struck the loose barrier.

It meant when the five inch thick pole entered him it took the easiest route, pushing his lung to one side.

He ended up pinned against the back of the cab, and the heavy concrete base of the barrier weighing down the end.

Jason's workmates comforted him while emergency services spent an hour cutting him from the vehicle in Darlington, County Durham. Forklift truck drivers moved parked cars to allow an air ambulance to land.

He added: "The fireman cut the roof off and started cutting the pole. That was the worst bit, when they clamped the jaws of the cutters on the pole and it started turning inside me.

"It was strange when I saw it turning, but by that stage I just wanted to get it out of there. Even when they put me in the helicopter there was still about four feet of pole going through me."

He began to think about his partner Helen Todd, 38, and sons Joshua, 19, and Jay, 11, adding: "I just remember wanting to speak to my sons for the last time."

He was flown to hospital and put in a 24-hour coma while surgeons removed the barrier. After having a rib removed and two others tied together, he will have a shoulder injury for life but was back at work within months.

Jason released the photos 15 months after the crash to raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance.