AN A&E consultant is calling on the people of north Essex to be extra careful when doing jobs around the house at Easter.

During his six years at Colchester General Hospital, Stephen Hughes has grown used to dealing with the fallout from bank holiday weekend DIY disasters.

He urged caution in a bid to prevent further dangerous mishaps this time around.

Specific examples during recent Easters have included a man whose big toe was repaired after he cut it severely while cutting the grass in flip-flops.

Another man got up after a night of heavy drinking and found a list of jobs from his wife – then severed two fingers while trying to trim a door with a circular saw.

A third man suffered a serious leg injury in an accident with an angle grinder.

Other common Easter cases include accidents involving drills, people cutting themselves while opening boxes with Stanley knives, and older people falling from ladders.

He said: “We’re not trying to stop people from doing DIY, but what is frustrating from our point of view is virtually all the DIY injuries we see are preventable.

“We want people to take care, to be safe, to plan jobs properly and, if necessary, pay for a proper workman to do the work for them or to ask for help from a family member or friend.”

“I’m sure a child, grandchild, friend or neighbour would rather help out than spend Easter visiting you in hospital.”