A lorry driver whose life lay in the balance when his truck crashed at a North Yorkshire beauty spot is staging a remarkable recovery from serious spinal injuries.

Flashback to the scene of the crash at the Hole of Horcum on the North York Moors last September when lorry driver Mick Harper, from Norton, suffered serious spinal injuries

Mick Harper, from Beverley Road, Norton, has delighted friends and relatives by taking his first steps since the accident on the North York Moors nearly two months ago.

And now his wife, Audrey, is hoping he will even be well enough to spend Christmas at home.

Mr Harper suffered spinal and head injuries, as well as several broken bones, when his lorry plunged more than 50ft down an embankment at the Hole of Horcum, north of Pickering.

He is now receiving treatment at the spinal injuries unit at Hexham General Hospital, near Newcastle.

Mrs Harper said: "He has taken about five steps. He's getting back on his feet. We will hopefully bring him home for Christmas.

"He's doing quite well. He's hoping to walk a bit before Christmas comes."

Mr Harper was travelling along the A169 Pickering to Whitby road in the early hours of Tuesday, September 21, when the accident happened.

As he neared a sharp bend at the remote Hole of Horcum, his lorry left the road.

Mr Harper was flung from the cab and he was discovered 20ft from the wreckage.

Quick-thinking postman Ian Spurr, 42, from Skelton, near York, raised the alarm after spotting grass and stones littering the road.

The debris had not been there when he passed the same spot half an hour earlier on his early morning postal run to Whitby.

So Mr Spurr went back to investigate and spotted vehicle tracks leading off the road and into the pitch black depths below.

He had to drive to Pickering to obtain a strong enough signal to use his mobile telephone to ring his supervisor who, in turn, alerted the emergency services.

As Mr Harper's lorry plunged down the embankment, it struck a tree and he was thrown out of the cab and trapped in the root-ball of the tree.

Firefighters and police officers dug him out with their bare hands while paramedics monitored his condition.

A Royal Air Force search and rescue helicopter from RAF Leconfield airlifted Mr Harper to Middlesbrough General Hospital, where he received treatment until he was moved to Hexham.

Police and Mrs Harper later thanked Mr Spurr for his actions, saying they may have saved Mr Harper's life.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.