Unlucky break for dustman Gerald!
TORBAY dustcart driver Gerald Thomas must be the unluckiest man in town -- with one bad break after another.
First 38-year-old Gerald was laid off on the unlucky 13th day of the month after falling off his dustcart and breaking his right leg.
Now he is back in Torbay Hospital with an array of new broken bones after being knocked down by a hit and run driver... as he hobbled across the road on his crutches.
Gerald's latest injuries include:
*A BROKEN left leg.
*BROKEN ribs.
*TWO broken knees
* AND a fractured elbow.
He was trying to cross Torquay Road in Paignton on crutches late at night when he was involved in a collision with a car.
His right leg was broken in March when he slipped getting out from the dustcart he'd been driving in Penwill Way, Paignton.
Now his left leg is out of action for the next few months after the accident at the weekend.
''I feel like an Egyptian mummy,'' said bandaged-up Gerald from his bed in Torbay Hospital's trauma ward.
He had been walking from the Palace Place Social Club to his home in Rowcroft Road when he suffered his second big break.
''I was hobbling across the road and saw this car coming closer and closer. Next thing I knew I was on the ground with all these people around me,'' said Gerald.
He was amazed he suffered no further damage to his already broken right leg which is pinned together after the dustcart dust-up.
''You could say I've had a few unlucky breaks,'' said Gerald, who is married to Terri with two sons, Ross, 13, and Luke, nine.
He immediately thanked everyone at the scene who helped him.
''I lost consciousness for a while. I can't remember much about being hit, but I do know a lot of people around helped me. I'd like to thank them,'' he said.
He had to be laid off from his dustcart job -- on April 13 -- after the first accident, although he is hoping to find a similar job once he's back on his feet.
''I didn't think I would be back in the same ward so quickly,'' he said.
A man was being quizzed by police.
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