A father suffered 'life changing injuries' when he was crushed in a fluke accident by a glass hearse.

Ben Crosbie, who turned 40 days before Thursday's accident, was left fighting for his life and his wife Sarah says he only survived thanks to the expertise of emergency services.

Mr Crosbie, a groom and coachman for Townies Carriage Hire of Tick Fen in Chatteris, was airlifted to Addenbrooke's after he was trapped between the hearse and the back of a lorry.

He was loading the carriage onto the lorry when a winch gave way pinning him by the ankle and crushing him across his midriff.

His wife said: 'He is stable, but it will be a long road to recovery.

'He has lost a kidney, has damage to his aorta and spleen. He has had bowel and colon surgery.

'A fractured ankle will need to be fused, a broken rib and trauma to his shoulders - but that is mostly muscular.

'He is extremely poorly but is thankfully off the ventilator and is conscious. He is likely to be in hospital for another four to five weeks.

'No ifs or buts, he has suffered life changing injuries.'

Mrs Crosbie said their 14-year-old daughter has not yet visited her dad because of the severity of his injuries.

'It would have been too much for her to see him on a ventilator with tubes everywhere,' she said.

Mrs Crosbie: 'He is lucky to have been pulled out alive. 'It is thanks to the brilliant emergency services and Magpas that we have that he survived.'

Mr Crosbie has worked for Townies for nearly 10 years.

He has loaded the glass hearse on to the lorry for all that time.

Mrs Crosbie, who also works as groom for the firm, was at home when the incident happened but was called within minutes and rushed to the scene.

She added: 'It was just a fluke accident. There was nothing he could do to avoid it because there was no room or time to react.'

She said Townies is like 'one big family' and the owners have been devastated by what happened and have been very supportive.