A mechanic says he had a lucky escape after he was thrown against a wall by a car he was testing.

David Dutton, a partner at Queens Garage in Minster, was doing an MoT on the car in the workshop when the accident happened last Thursday .

The 50-year-old, who was carrying out an emissions test, placed a smoke meter inside the exhaust before walking round the car to sit in the driver’s seat.

He said: “I thought the car was in neutral, but it was still in reverse with the handbrake on.

“I put my foot in the car, I was going to slide in and sit in there to rev the engine, but my foot hit the accelerator which released the electronic handbrake and, of course, because it was in reverse it just went backwards.

“Because it was going backwards my foot was pushing more and more on the accelerator.

“I couldn’t get my foot off. I was hopping along with the car trying to get in or out but it was going too fast for me to be able to.

“I must have lost my footing and it just threw me up against the metal railings of the viewing area for customers to stand and wait.”

Mr Dutton, of Cliff Gardens, Minster, hit the railings with his back before falling backwards and hitting his head on the corner of a door frame, splitting it open.

“It happened within seconds. One minute I was getting in the car and the next I was on the floor in agony,” the father-of-two said.

“All I remember is the car just passed my side, luckily it didn’t run over me. It carried on going down the forecourt and hit a metal pole which, thankfully, stopped it going out onto the main road.”

The customer, whose car Mr Dutton was doing the MoT on, called for an ambulance, which also sent an air ambulance to the Chequers Road garage at around 2.45pm.

Mr Dutton said: “I was in so much pain I just couldn’t concentrate on anything. I was just shaking.

“When the paramedics got to me and started checking me over, they thought my lung had collapsed to begin with, as they couldn’t hear any lung intake.

“I was lying on my back, where my ribs had broken, in agony. Until the paramedics arrived and turned me over to take the pressure off my ribs, I couldn’t think about anything else. I was in too much shock.”

Mr Dutton was airlifted to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford for treatment.

He spent two days in hospital before being discharged with three broken ribs and a two-inch cut to the back of his head.

“I have got six staples in my head at the moment and a nasty bruised leg as well,” he added.

“I have been told to take it easy and keep taking pain killers so I can move about.

“The doctors said it could take up to three months for the ribs to heal, but hopefully I should be able to be moving about a bit quicker than that.

“The whole thing scared the life out of me and my dad, John, who saw me fall. It happened so quickly, I just didn’t have time to do anything.

“I was very lucky. I am a bit stiff and sore, but alive.”