Farmer is lucky to be alive after being trampled by his own cows

Phil Marwood, 53, was working in the cowshed of his farm between Settrington and North Grimston, when the attack happened.

"We were calving at the time and I was just checking on the cows before I finished for the night," said Phil, a married father of two, who has been working in the farming industry for more than 35 years.

"One of the cows had been causing a few problems so I always made sure I knew where she was when suddenly she came full throttle at me. She was like an express train, knocking me down and trying to ram me with her head which set the others off."

Half a dozen cows then trampled over Phil with one of them sitting on his chest.

“They were trampling me as I was pinned down and I could barely see daylight. Certainly thoughts do flash before you. I knew this could be it," he said.

"I managed to scramble into a round feeder and they started to circle me going round and round, when as suddenly as it had started they all calmed down and I was able to limp out."

Phil suffered a broken collar bone, facial injuries and severe bruising down the right side of his body and legs in the attack, which happened earlier this year.

A road ambulance was called, but because of his pain levels and breathing difficulties he was airlifted to James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Crews from UKTV series Helicopter Heroes ER happened to be filming with the air ambulance at the time, and Phil's lucky escape featured on UKTV’s reality channel Really on Monday.

Phil said: “My face was a mess and I just couldn’t breathe. I know that if I had been pinned against a wall, or if it had been hard ground the outcome could have been much worse. I was very lucky.

"My wife, Sally, had been at work and had followed the road ambulance to our house so it was quite a shock for her as well."

Yorkshire Air Ambulance serves five million people across Yorkshire and carries out more than 1,250 missions every year. The charity needs to raise £12,000 every day and is currently replacing its two ageing aircraft with new, state-of-the-art Airbus H145 helicopters.

Phil added: “You never think you are going to need the air ambulance but when you do they are there. They were marvellous.”