Trapped man thankful for cellphones | Canterbury News | Local News in Canterbury

With his ankle firmly pinned beneath the wheel of a four-tonne tractor Rod Bennett counts himself lucky he carries two cellphones to ensure access in remote areas.

He's also hugely thankful the runaway tractor he was driving didn't crush him when he fell off while trying to reach its kill switch in the North Canterbury backblocks about 2pm last Monday.

Mr Bennett managed to reach into his pocket to grab his phones to call emergency services from the site where he lay trapped on Woodstock Station after his bid to clear a private road went horribly awry.

He then endured an agonising 30min wait before paramedics and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter arrived.

"I've never been in so much pain in my life," Mr Bennett told The Star from his hospital bed yesterday. "I had the full weight of a four-tonne tractor sitting on my ankle."

Mr Bennett, who, with wife Lois, runs jetboat rides in the Waimakariri Gorge through their company High Country Explorer Tours, was using the tractor to grade a road that provides access to the river for their 23-seat jetboat.

On Monday he was due to take a party of tourists from a cruise ship scheduled to call at Akaroa, but it was too rough for the ship to enter harbour and the tour was cancelled.

"I decided to use the time to grade the mountain road," Mr Bennett said.

"It had to be done. It was unfortunate (the accident) happened on the last run."

Heading downhill, the tractor started to speed up with the engine revs rising rapidly.

"The engine governor had jammed open and I was trying to save the thing before it blew apart," Mr Bennett said.

"I was reaching in front to kill the engine when I lost my balance and went forward under the tractor and it rolled on top of me."

Mr Bennett said he was lucky just to have broken a small bone.