Man taken to hospital after being hit by his own truck

Emergency services tend to a man who was hit and injured by his own truck as it rolled towards the water in the seaside township of Moeraki yesterday. Photo / Daniel Birchfield

A truck was left teetering just centimetres from the water after it struck its driver and injured him in an accident in Moeraki, south of Oamaru, yesterday.

The man, from Moeraki, suffered a broken leg and was assessed at the scene by first responders before being treated by an Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter crew, then airlifted to Dunedin Hospital.

Constable Nathan Bobbette, of Palmerston, said the ''unusual'' incident unfolded about 1.20pm after the man parked the blue flat-bed truck in the area next to the seaside township's wharf, opposite the Moeraki Tavern.

''It appears he has parked his vehicle and once he had stopped he has got out and the vehicle has rolled and hit him on the way down.''

The vehicle came to a stop before it went into the water, but remained in a precarious position on a rocky incline at the water's edge yesterday afternoon.

The man did not fall into the water and was in a stable condition, Const Bobbette said.

The accident was not work-related.

A heavy truck arrived at the scene while the man was being tended to and was placed on standby to pull the truck out.

A woman having lunch with a group of others at the tavern, who did not want to be named, told the Otago Daily Times she saw the truck moving, but did not realise anyone had been hit until emergency services arrived.

''We just glanced to see the tail end of it quietly rolling,'' she said.

A fire appliance from Palmerston also attended.

Inquiries are continuing.