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"We are extremely lucky. If we were in any other van we would have been pretty much dead," he said.
We're so lucky to be alive Freak accident victim pays tribute to 999 crews A father-of-six crushed beneath a giant fallen tree was the first to tell his fianc=E9e he was the victim of a life-threatening road accident.
Jon Campbell, 25, of Holgate Drive, somehow managed to reach for his mobile and phone his partner while pinned to the driver's seat during a dangerous rescue operation on Friday afternoon.
The van had been hit by the eight-tonne beech tree as Jon and his workmate Danny Hirst, 27, of Houghton Regis, drove home along the A416 Chesham Road, near Berkhamsted.
A rescue team took three hours to get both men out of the Anglian Home Improvements vehicle before air-lifting them to the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford.
Jon, who was discharged on Monday with a broken back and wrist and numerous cuts and bruises, said the men realised they were fortunate to be alive.
"We are extremely lucky. If we were in any other van we would have been pretty much dead," he said.
The Mercedes Sprinter was hit by the tree on a wooded road as the two self-employed roof-trim fitters, sub-contracted to Anglian, were returning from a job in Chesham.
For the full dramatic story and more pictures, see the March 15 edition of the Luton News and Dunstable Gazette.
16 March 2006 .