Pupils delighted as injured head returns to school

A headteacher who was run over twice in his school's car park was back at work today after fighting back to health over summer.

Austin Cheminais was airlifted to hospital following the accident outside Rushall JMI.

He said doctors thought he might not walk again.

The 56-year-old from Shire Oak, Brownhills, still has tyre marks on his legs from when he was knocked over by a delivery van at the school in Pelsall Lane, Rushall.

Mr Cheminais said that the vehicle reversed over both of his legs, before driving forward and over his limbs once again.

But although paramedics feared he had been badly crushed in the accident, he only underwent a minor operation at Selly Oak Hospital on his elbow.

"I do feel very lucky to be here, because the wheels missed going over my head by inches," he said.

"When I lifted my head to see the car reversing over my legs, I thought 'that's it'.

"At first they thought I had broken everything below the knee. They thought I might never walk again and I've still got tyre tracks on my leg. But although I've still got a slight lack of feeling in one leg and a bit of a limp, I am pretty much recovered."

He said he was pleased to be back in school. "It's great to be back," he said.

"I'm really fortunate to have such excellent staff, which has meant I haven't had to come back to a mountain of work.

"The ambulance and police have also been awesome and couldn't have done a better job."

He added that the police were continuing an investigation into the accident, which happened in May.

And Mr Cheminais said the school had taken action to prevent any similar mishaps on site.

"We've reviewed everything that could have been done to prevent it happening and plan to change those things that need to be changed," he said.