A STARTLED Leigh security guard had a miracle escape when he was sent spinning through the air in high winds - while sitting in a portable cabin!

Damian Atherton, 19, of Carders Lane, crawled battered and bruised from the wreckage of the cabin but amazingly did not suffer serious injury.

His brush with death came when gale-force winds lashed the north west on Tuesday night, uprooting scores of trees and blowing tiles off roofs.

Today Damian is recovering at his home after being literally swept off his feet by the gusts of wind at Stone Cross Industrial Estate in Lowton.

And he thanked his good fortune that he was not crushed by the collapsed walls of the mobile structure.

He said: "It was quite windy that night and my cabin was rocking a bit. When suddenly out of nowhere a huge gust of wind span the cabin round and flipped it over.

"It was mad. It spun round as if it was weightless.

"All the glass exploded and the table snapped. It was a mess. I had a dinner of spaghetti bolognese for later on and that went everywhere."

Watching

It was at 2 am when Damian, a security guard for Constant Security, was in his small cabin keeping watch on trailers.

Stunned Damian, who only began work at the industrial estate six weeks ago, managed to phone his girlfriend who picked him up and took him to Wigan Royal Infirmary.

He escaped without even a broken bone but doctors told him to take two weeks off work.

He said: "I banged my head on the table when it flipped over. My neck and back are very sore. At the moment I'm spending a lot of time lying in bed. I also had a slight concussion."

Damian, who recently left the army after serving in the 1st Battalion Kings Regiment, said the cabin had not been tied down before it blew away.

"It was just stood on bricks and there had been complaints that it was tilted."

Louise Kirkham, operations director of Constant Security confirmed the incident had taken place and said a Health and Safety investigation was under way.

She said: "We don't have any details as yet but it is under investigation. officials have been on to the site."