Taunton Window Cleaner Impaled On Railing

Jon Richardson recovering at home - with the offending spike.

Taunton window cleaner impaled on railings after falling off ladder: Window cleaner Jon Richardson is nursing a sore foot after falling off a ladder and becoming impaled on railings. But without his quick reactions he reckons the accident would have been far worse.

“I fell 2½ metres and was going down stomach-first with the spikes coming towards me,” said Jon, aged 40. “But I got my foot out just in time, otherwise I’d have had four spikes through my tummy and wouldn’t be here today.”

Jon was on the top rung and about to start cleaning an upstairs window in Grove Gate, Staplegrove, shortly before 10am on Saturday when the ladder slid from underneath him. After he landed on the railings, with his body on the ground, Jon at first thought he’d simply trapped his ankle. “I called for help and people came running out,” said Jon, of Trendle Road, Taunton, who will be off work for six weeks. “They lifted my body up level with my feet, which is when I saw the spike had gone through my foot.”

Firefighters cut him free with the spike still embedded in his foot, while ambulance staff administered pain relief. He was then taken to Musgrove Park Hospital, where a doctor removed the spike and he later underwent surgery to remove debris from inside his leg. Jon, a window cleaner for 20 years, who lives with his partner and has two grown-up children, said: “My family were horrified when they heard I’d been impaled on a spike. “But it could have been far worse if I hadn’t realised what was going on and moved my foot in the way.”

A Home Owner Cleaning Windows - A Foot From Death

Lucky... man's foot caught in metal grille after falling 2 floors, saving his life.

Harrowing ... the man hangs precariously from the window grilles

Incredible escape as man catches leg on window grilles after apartment fall: An elderly man in Beijing is rescued by police after dangling from the eighth floor window grill of his apartment building. A Chinese man has had an incredible escape after slipping from his 10th floor apartment while cleaning his windows. The man was saved from a complete freefall to the Beijing street below when his leg caught on the window grilles of a unit on the eighth floor. Neighbours found him dangling outside their flat on Tuesday and called police.

When rescuers arrived, they secured the man's leg with a rope in case it came free, before pulling him to safety. The man had to be persuaded to let go of the railing before the rescue worker who climbed out to him was able to haul him to safety, London's Daily Telegraph reported. Local media reported the man was treated at a nearby hospital.

Safe ... the man is carried to safety.

He was remarkably unscathed except for a few scrapes, reports said. Original Chinese video of the event below.