THE close-knit Huxter family want to thank the emergency services and hospital staff for the care they have given to Albert Huxter.

Mr Huxter was involved in an accident on Monday as he was working in a field near South Bowood.

His wife Jean was worried when he didn’t come in for tea as normal and she asked brother George to look for him.

After searching where he was thought to be working George found weights from the tractor in a field and tracked the tractor - and his brother - to the bottom of an 18ft deep ditch.

How or why he was there is a complete mystery to the family.

George said: “We really can’t understand what happened, he’s been driving tractors since he was 15 and the tractor is only two or three years old. There is nothing Albert doesn’t know about tractors.

He also paid tribute to rescuers for being on the scene so quickly and being so professional.

“The First Responders were there within minutes. They were brilliant. They are really spot on. They wrapped him up in a heat blanket and tried to keep him out of the mud and the water.

“They were really professional.

“We had Bridpdort and Beaminster fire brigade , the paramedics and the ambulance. I reckon there were the best part of 30 people there, all within the hour."

He said fire fighters used a hand winch so if anybody slipped Albert would be kept stable.

Sister-in-law Christine said: “Somebody from the fire brigade even rang the next morning to see how he was.How good is that?

“The phone hasn’t stopped ringing, people have stopped me in town to see how he is

“It is just nice to know people care.”

Son Martin also said hospital staff in the intensive care unit at Dorset County Hospital had been superb but his father remembered nothing about the accident.