EMERGENCY workers took more than an hour to free a gardener when his leg became entangled in an earth-moving machine.

Firefighters used hydraulic cutting equipment, an electric saw and an electric grinder to free the seriously injured man after he stumbled and fell into a petrol-driven rotavator on a village building site near York.

They gave the man oxygen and a pain reliever called entenox while working to save him.

A North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service spokesman said he had suffered a suspected broken arm, broken leg and severe lacerations.

He was taken to York Hospital after the ordeal at the former Thompson Barrett Organisation headquarters at Howsham.

Sub-officer Andy Ramsbottom, based at Malton, said: "This was both an unusual and serious incident."

Nick Rycroft, who watched in horror as the man was dragged into the machine, said an automatic safety cut-off device probably saved his leg.

"He was turning the ground over for turf when he slipped and got his foot caught inside the machine. He must have been in a lot of pain, it was nasty," he said. "One moment he was there the next minute he was on the floor. It all happened so quickly. He said 'switch it off' as the engine was still going, but I'm not sure if the teeth were still turning."

Mr Rycroft, who runs his own company, Falcon Landscapes, said paramedics and firefighters tried "all sorts" to try and free the man, eventually resorting to cutting the teeth out all together.

The man, who lives in the York area, was working for a local sub-contractor when the accident occurred at about 12.30pm yesterday.

The rotavator he was using was a large hand-held machine with long, curled teeth that spin and plough up loose soil for planting.

A spokeswoman for the Health and Safety Executive said it had not yet been informed of the accident.

Updated: 08:49 Saturday, September 27, 2003