Tractor driver Sean Willis had a miraculous escape from serious inuury when the tractor he was using to tow a harvest trailer flipped over three times as it descended a hill at Rockley near Marlborough yesterday.

Estate manager Chris Musgrave said that if Mr Willis had not been driving a German-made Fendt tractor that was “built like a Sherman tank” the outcome would have been much more serious Mr Willis who lives in Swindon is a temporary harvest employee for Temple Farming and he was driving a tractor and trailer collecting wheat from a combine harvester being driven by Paul Holborrow.

He was heading down a steep slope towards the wheat field at the side of the Marlborough-Hackpen Hill road when the eight of the trailer began to push the tractor.

Mr Musgrav said: “He was coming down off the downs and the trailer appeared to gain momentum and split off from the tractor and then the tractor flipped over three times.

“Wow was he a lucky man,” said the estate manager.

Mr Willis ended up upside down in the footwell of the tractor which ended up back on its wheels at the foot of the slope.

Mr Holborrow rushed to free him and, said Mr Musgrave, everyone on the farm was amazed to learn that Mr Willis’s only injuries were a bump on the head and a minor leg injury.

“He was a very lucky man and it was lucky he was driving a German/French Fendt tractor which is built like a Sherman tank,” said Mr Musgrave.

Police and fire brigade attended together with an ambulance but it was decided Mr Willis did not need hospital treatment.

The Health and Safety Executive was notified of the incident and the tractor was left in situ pending a visit by H&S officers.