Polish worker traps arm in potato sorter on Staffordshire farm
A farm worker who became trapped in a potato sorting machine has been left with "extremely serious" arm injuries.
Paramedics worked for over two hours to free the Polish national from the unit at Mercer Farming in Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire, on Tuesday.
The 36-year-old was airlifted to University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, for treatment.
A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said they were investigating.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said the "injuries to the man's arm were extremely serious".
The unit at Mercer Farming in Bar Lane was rented by Rugeley-based farmers WB Daw & Sons and used to sort potatoes.
Mavis Daw, who runs the business with her husband James, said they were "horror struck" when they heard what had happened.
She said the man had been asked to collect potato samples for quality testing and should not have been near the potato sorting machine, which she said was the size of a double-decker bus.
"It's a mystery to us [why he was there], we don't know what he was doing," she said.
Mr Daw said when he was told what had happened, he told workers to "do whatever you have to do to get him out of that machine".
"He is the sort of guy everyone wants round him," he sad.
"We wish him a speedy recovery."