A GARDENER was almost buried alive yesterday when the ground opened up beneath him and he fell 6ft down a hole while mowing a judge’s lawn.
David Lonsdale, 41, is thought to have lain unconscious in the hole for an hour before recovering and remembering that he had his mobile telephone in his pocket. He dialled 999 and fire officers found the hole, thought to be a disused well, still collapsing when they arrived.
Mr Lonsdale, who had been working in the garden of Judge Rolf Hammerton in the village of Falmer, near Brighton, said: “One minute I was standing there the next minute I was gone.
“When I came to the mower was balanced on the hole above my head and I could see the blades still going around. I was terrified that it was going to come down on me as it is very heavy and the blades could have killed me.
“I was also petrified that the hole was going to get deeper and suck me down. I was so lucky to have my mobile phone on me and I just called for help. The doctors say I’m lucky to be alive.”
From: September 23, 1999 issue of The Times newspaper, London England.