John Connell’s light truck, pictured after the tree had been cut away and the injured driver extracted and taken to hospital. Photo / Tony Etheridge
Connell was “very sore” but had come out of the crash “very lightly all things considered”, he said.
“When it happened I thought I had at least one broken leg. My left leg is very bruised and battered – we thought we may have had a fracture in the bottom part where the steering wheel has gone into my thighs.
“[And] my hands are black and blue … I can hardly move my fingers … and I have a small cut on my head – the top of my head took a lot of impact from the windscreen, which ended up going outwards, and a lot of glass showered everywhere inside the truck.
“Apart from that everything else isn’t too bad, but I’ve certainly got some aches and pains coming out now.”
When he left home this morning it had stopped raining but the wind was “blowing a howling gale”.
The tree came down on Carrington Rd, south of New Plymouth.
He hit the falling tree “at the same time it came down”, Connell said.
“All I saw was the tree … I just instinct-tried to turn but the whole thing was right across the road. There was nowhere to actually go.”
The only thought he had time for was, ‘Oh no’, Connell said.
“Then just bang, and my legs were just pinned on the floor. The horn was jammed on and I turned the engine off on the truck and got my phone out.
“The damage has all been done from halfway up to the top [of the truck]. It hit just below the windscreen and bent all the pillars and the windscreen and buckled the doors.”
First responders at the scene on Carrington Rd after the crash early this morning. Photo / Tony Etheridge
He immediately called 111.
“I was fortunate. I had my little lunch bag and my phone was in my lunch bag next to me … I was totally pinned and knew I was going to need someone to cut the truck open.”
Firefighters cut the driver’s door off and then managed to open the front of the truck so the steering column could be moved forward to free Connell’s legs.
Despite his presence of mind in being able to call for help, there was no escaping from the pain.
“I was in quite a bit of pain … they kept asking me on a scale of one to 10 and I was around a seven and eight.”
His Nissan Atlas truck – pictured after the fallen tree was cut away – is a write-off, John Connell says. Photo / Tony Etheridge
He was grateful to all who came to help, Connell said.
“There were three ladies there dealing with me from the ambulance … [and] the guys from the fire department tried to make sure things were safe and worked pretty quick on trying to get the vehicle open and get me free.
“I can’t say enough for the fire brigade guys, and the ambulance.”
Those working at the scene had a lucky escape themselves when another tree came down just after they’d cleared the area.
Connell’s friend Tony Etheridge was among those who came to help after the crash.
“[We’d] just cleared the vehicles [and got] the truck on to the tow truck, just because with the wind there, the second tree looked like it was about to come down.
“No sooner had we pulled the truck out of the way, the second tree came right down on top of where we were.”