Sussex bin man left with fractured skull and broken ribs after crash

Another worker was also hurt in the incident, which happened on a 30mph section of road at the junction of Lynwick Street and Guildford Road in Bucks Green, near Horsham.

Horsham District Council has now issued a plea for drivers to be more vigilant around its waste collection teams.

The van which smashed into the back of the bin lorry (Image: Horsham District Council / SWNS)

The incident in Bucks Green happened at around 8.30am on May 29.

Their bin lorry was stationary with beacons flashing as they were collecting bins from houses on the near side of the road.

One worker, aged 57, was airlifted to St George's Hospital in Tooting, London, after being injured.

He suffered a fracture to the skull, broken ribs and a bleed in his chest.

He was put in an induced coma, and his condition was said to be  “touch and go” for some time.

The refuse worker is now making "slow but steady" progress and has been moved to a more local hospital.

But his wife, who wanted them to remain anonymous, said recovery has been extremely stressful for family and friends.

READ MORE: Man fighting for his life after crash

“My husband has suffered life-changing injuries and is still in hospital after seven weeks," she said.

"He is very frustrated and upset some days as he cannot communicate. He hates the tubes everywhere and he has had to endure so much pain and suffering.

"Personally, as a family, we have had the burden of travelling to London and back every other day for four weeks and we are now still travelling to the south coast and back for hospital visits.

“We now have financial worries and may have to sell our house and possibly give up work. I had to take a lot of time off work.

“I didn’t know if my husband would live or die, so have suffered considerable stress from that. Neither of us had a life for the first six weeks and there is still a long way to go yet.”

The second worker was taken to hospital with bruising to his ribs, spleen and stomach, but was later released.

Both men are off work.

A spokesman for Horsham District Council also revealed that two further incidents involving refuse collectors doing their rounds in the area had also been reported.

In the village of Warnham, a motorist is said to have driven onto the pavement to get around a parked waste collection vehicle - bumping into a collection crew member.

Near the village of Cowfold, a motorist again drove into the back of a waste collection vehicle as it stopped to collect bins on a main road.

No one was seriously hurt.

"Our ongoing thoughts are very much with our injured crew members and their families at such difficult times as they continue to recover from these horrendous accidents, which have occurred as they have been carrying out their essential jobs to support our communities," a Horsham District Council spokesman said.

"There have been three serious incidents in three weeks recently on local Horsham District roads resulting in serious life-changing injuries for one crew member and considerable injury and stress to others, which is not acceptable.

"As a council, we issue a plea to all drivers to be more vigilant when they see waste collection trucks going about their rounds.

"They will be stopping to do their collections, often on busy roads and crew members will be walking around the vehicles in their high visibility uniforms to perform their duties.

"So, please be more observant and exercise more caution around our waste collection vehicles."

Sussex Police are appealing for witnesses to the Bucks Green incident.