Worker's agony as nailgun goes off and pins him to the floor

Ian Dow

March 6, 2009 

Daily Record UK

A BRAVE dad who accidentally stuck himself to his kitchen floor with a NAILGUN laughed off his gruesome ordeal.

Billy Allan, 39, was checking his powerful Max Superframer gun when he slipped and fired a four-inch nail through his hand.

His nine-year-old daughter found him. Mercy crews took 90 minutes to cut him free and get him to hospital, and two male nurses had to hold him steady while a doctor bashed the nail out with a hammer.

''The doctor said it was like something out of a cartoon,'' Billy told the Record.

''Everyone seems to find it funny and even I can laugh about it. But not too hard - any sudden movement and my hand really throbs.''

Billy works as a fencer and checks his nailgun every night to make sure it's working for the next day.

He's an expert with the gun and even completed a course recently in how to handle it safely.

But things went badly wrong when he tried to check it on Thursday night.

Billy, of Fauldhouse, West Lothian, said: ''I was watching Red Riding on Channel 4, and when there was an ad break just before 11 o'clock I remembered I hadn't checked my gun.

''It only takes a few seconds but as I got up I must have slipped and knocked the battery pack into place and the gun fired with my hand under it.

''At first I didn't feel anything but when I tried to move my hand it was really sore.''

Billy shouted for help but his wife Yvonne, 36, was sound asleep.

Luckily, daughter Naomi heard his cries. She came downstairs, saw Billy pinned to the floor and ran to wake her mum, who called 999.

''The paramedics were pretty quick,'' Billy added. ''They gave me gas and air to ease the pain but I could feel my hand swelling and the skin was getting tighter and tighter as if a hook was being dragged into it.

''They said the best thing would be to cut out a bit of the floor and take me to hospital. They said it was a job for the fire service.''

A fire crew arrived to cut Billy free and the medics took him to Wishaw General.

The doctor removed the nail from the web of his right hand, bandaged him up and gave him a tetanus jab.

''It took three good hard blows to get the nail out and it was damn sore,'' Billy said.

''Afterwards, they gave me the nail back in a bottle.

'I've learned a painful lesson. I'll be off work for two weeks at least.

''And I didn't even get to see the end of my TV program.  I was nailed to the floor for the last 10 minutes.''