A man has been taken to hospital with serious scalp injuries after hitting his head on a Broads bridge while his boat went under it.

The 66-year-old was driving his vessel at 11.30am on Monday when the incident happened at Ludham Bridge.

On approaching the bridge he ducked his head, but lifted it too early. As a result, the skin on the top of his scalp was scraped off by the bridge’s underside - leaving his wife to commandeer the boat as he fell to the floor.

According to Hemsby’s lifeboat crew, who administered emergency first aid after being paged by Humber Coastguard, the man’s wife did a “fantastic job” of staying calm given the circumstances.

Daniel Hurd, lifeboat coxswain, said: “The poor gentleman who was injured was knocked down, and his wife did a fantastic job of pulling the boat over to the side where she then called for help.

“The skin on his head had sort of come off in two parts: it looked extremely painful.

“We dressed the man’s wounds before an ambulance transferred him to the James Paget Hospital for further treatment.”

He added: “We respond to all kinds of incidents on the Broads but this is the first of its kind.”