A HOMELESS man sleeping in a wheelie bin was lucky to be alive today after being tipped into a bin wagon and crushed by machinery.
He was rushed to hospital after being rescued by firemen.
Mark Wood, aged 42, was asleep in the wheelie bin shortly after 8am on Thursday when workers emptied it into the refuse truck in St Paul's Street, Bury.
He was crushed by the hydraulic compression system before binmen heard him screaming and switched off the machine.
Firefighters spent nearly 45 minutes freeing him with hydraulic tools normally used to rescue car crash victims.
Ambulance technicians Paul Williams and Mike Thompson jumped into the back of the wagon and treated Mr Wood while other firefighters removed several tons of rubbish.
Special equipment was used to prise open the compression unit which had impaled one of Mr Wood's legs and severed an artery.
Mr Wood is understood to have been conscious throughout this ordeal and told his rescuers that he had climbed into the wheelie bin the night before to get some sleep.
He was rushed to Fairfield Hospital and then transferred to North Manchester General Hospital for emergency surgery.
The three-man refuse collection crew was allowed home after the accident. Their boss, Mike Savage, Bury Council's operation services officer, said: "The members of the crew are very shocked by what has happened.
"The lads had no idea that he was in the wheelie bin.
"Once they realised someone was in the back of the truck, they immediately hit the emergency cut-off switch and then alerted the emergency services. There was nothing else they could do."
Eyewitness Tom Howarth, who lives in St Paul's Street, captured the rescue operation on his camera.
He said: "I hope this man recovers quickly."
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