History almost repeated itself for the Sewell family this week.

On Wednesday, crane operator Freddie Sewell had a brush with death after his crane tipped over at a controversial construction site in Southampton.

The accident occurred virtually nine years to the day that his son Teddy died in a crane wreck in Bull's Head.

Mr. Freddie Sewell's million dollar crane was destroyed in an instant on St. Anne's Road, Southampton at the building site of 33 new houses.

Last night he told The Royal Gazette he "did not have time to get out" of the crane before it crashed".

When asked if he was scared that he was going to die, he said, he wasn't. "It all happened in a spilt second. We were pouring concrete from one position to another. I did not move the boom up or down or anything. I have been doing this for 40 years. I do not know what happened."

Remarkably, Mr. Sewell was uninjured despite having tons of metal crashing around him.

But Government Health and Safety Inspector Harry Powell said yesterday that the construction company for which Mr. Sewell was working, M&M construction, is "a small company that has grown".

Speaking at the scene of the accident on Wednesday evening, Mr. Powell said that he was "looking into a number of things" to see how the Terex-brand crane tipped.

"Cranes are computerised, they don't just fall over," Mr. Powell said. "The computerised system automatically tells the crane that it is capable of lifting a heavy load as the computer knows what the lifting radius is of the crane."

He said that the lifting radius meant that when the load was too far away from the crane ? or out of its lifting radius ? then the crane may tip over.

"No one was injured," Mr. Powell said. Not even the driver Freddie Sewell, who Mr. Powell called an experienced crane-driver.

Unlike Mr. Sewell, the crane was not so lucky. It received so much damage during the fall that is was rendered unusable.

The crane was attempting to lift a load of concrete, when it fell, Mr. Powell said.

Mr. Powell said he was going to be meeting with crane experts.

"At that point my questions are going to be along the lines of, what are the capabilities of the crane? What was the set-up at the site? What was the estimated lifting radius?" he said.

This time two years ago, in November 2002, several Southampton residents wrote to the Department of Planning to complain about them granting permission to build the 33 new homes on St. Anne's Road.

This involves nine detached homes and 24 town houses, bringing the total number of houses on the property up to 40.

The residents of Southdown Farm, Buggy Whip Hill, St. Anne's Road, Prism Heights and Orchard Drive have argued that to add an extra 33 houses would create a situation of high density housing, and that the new properties would not be in keeping with the properties in the surrounding area.

They have also pointed out that the whole area west of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse is woodland and a development nearby would overwhelm the remaining land, which has been designated as agricultural and woodland reserve.

"Cranes don't just fall over," Mr. Powell said.

On November 2, 1995, Teddy Sewell, 39, of St. David's, was killed when he was crushed between the front end of a container truck and the 20,000-ton crane's hydraulic arm. That crane, owned by Hamilton's Sea-Land Construction Ltd., was lifting a container of construction materials at the site of the ?then being constructed- Bull's Head car park in Hamilton when the accident occurred.

Mr. Sewell was trapped in his cab for around 45 minutes. Nine year's ago, eyewitnesses said that the container appeared to veer over, unbalancing the crane.

"It was unbelievable the entire crane just toppled over and smashed into a truck. I could hear the driver screaming, but there was nothing anybody could do," one eye-witness said.

Firefighters at the scene had to use airbags to lift the crane and free Mr. Sewell and a massive 50,000 ton crane was called in to lift the toppled vehicle further so he could be pulled clear.

The father-of-three was rushed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, but found dead on arrival.