A CARETAKER suffered serious foot injuries after he accidentally cut off one or more of his toes with a lawnmower.

David Williams, 59, who lives on Round Island in Poole Harbour, was carrying out gardening works on the island on Friday when his Flymo lawnmower ran over his foot.

Mr Williams had spent the previous day mowing, but decided against wearing his protective boots on Friday because he said his feet were sore, said a lifeboat spokesman.

A three-man crew from Poole RNLI Inshore Lifeboat was called to the island shortly after 3pm, where Mr Williams and his wife were waiting on the pier.

Dave Riley, lifeboat helmsman, said Mr Williams was "in good spirits" despite his condition. "I think he was more annoyed than anything."

"His foot had been heavily bandaged, although there was some blood seeping through.

"We got him on board the lifeboat, applied another dressing, and basically tried to keep him in as good a mood as possible."

The lifeboat returned to Poole mainland where it was met by an awaiting ambulance, which transferred Mr Williams to Poole Hospital.

Mr Williams was said to have told the lifeboat crew that he thought he had lost at least one big toe, possibly more toes, and had "probably broken a couple of others" during the incident.

Flymo lawnmowers often have speeds of up to 3,000 revs per minute.

Mr Riley added: "This was possibly one of the most unusual call-outs I have had to deal with.

"Normally, our role is to assist in getting people out of the water, whereas this was a call to help evacuate a man from the island.

"Either way, we were happy to help."