A PENSIONER was lucky to escape serious injury after getting tangled in a rogue surf kite and dragged into a wall.

Brian Phillipson was driving home along Sandbanks Road at 1pm on Saturday when the powerful kite, being used by a surfer in Poole Harbour, became tangled in his car.

The 72-year-old from Banks Road, Poole, said: "It just shot over the top of my car, landed behind me and got caught up. That was a bit of a shock in itself, but I pulled over and started to unhook it so I could get home.

"Suddenly my hand became caught up in the nylon cord and this great gale picked up. The kite pulled me off my feet and dragged me into a garden wall the other side of the pavement." Luckily the grandfather-of-one from Banks Road managed to free himself, but the nylon cord badly gashed his finger which left him with a lengthy wait at Poole Hospital and several butterfly stitches.

Seconds after freeing himself from the kite a man ran up - but not to help.

"I had a badly bleeding hand, but this man just ran up said 'I'm so sorry' and when I looked around again he was gone, off chasing his kite in the wind."

Mr Phillipson, who works as a wharf man at Poole Quay three days a week, drove home but eventually decided to go to casualty after struggling to stem the bleeding.

He said: "My right hand is black and blue on the back and the cut was so close to the nail it was hard to get stitches in. It was pouring with blood and I had a tetanus injection.

"Afterwards I just thought, what if this kite had hit a pedestrian or a little child? It was quite a size and could have killed someone."