Bionic Bruce eyed the line-up of Coronation Street soap stunners and grinned sheepishly.

Bruce has just taken part in a Granada TV series called Worksmart, set up by the Health and Safety Executive about work-inflicted injuries.

Bruce is as down-to-earth as you get and he wanted none of the glory.

The horrific accident two years ago, he says, was his own stupid fault.

"I did the film for Dot," he says simply.

His devoted wife - who shuns the limelight even more fervently than Bruce - has had to give up her farm.

"She lost far more than me.

I still have my job and can do just about everything I did before.

I was the fool who had the accident, she has had to pick up all the pieces."

Estate manager for YMCA at Lakeside, Bruce effectively had two full-time jobs.

"I came home at night and started on the farm.

We had been silaging.

By the fourth night, I was tired out and that clouds your judgement.

The forecast was for rain coming in, so we had to get on."

An oil-burst on the tractor had splattered all over Bruce.

And when a fault occurred, making baling string stick out of the machine, he tried to poke it back with his finger - while it was running.

Within a fortnight of the amputation at Preston, Bruce returned to work at YMCA, fighting back with bloody-minded determination.

He was given a cosmetic false arm, but has never worn it.

"Why bother?" he asks, "when you get a pliers' attachment for this one."

He holds up the ugly metal hooked appendage, strapped across his chest with a harness.

Bruce Lodge is a popular, well-liked guy.

His accident shocked the whole community, which rallied to give support.

"I always look at the funny side.

I know it sounds a crass thing to say, but after something like this, you realise how good life is.

"The big difference is I easily get upset now.

Look, I cry!

"There was nothing altruistic about the Granada thing and I couldn't care less about appearing with the Coronation Street barmaids.

I don't think for a minute it will stop anyone falling into bailers, because it won't.

"What I wanted to say was it's not the person who has the accident, it's everyone else who has to suffer."