Bungee accident survivor attempts van pull record

Doctors feared Mike Land might never recover after his 1993 accident

A man who survived sustaining multiple injuries when his bungee jump cord snapped is aiming to set a world record by pulling a van.

Mike Land, from Swindon, is aiming to set a new Guinness World Record by pulling a 1.5 tonne van as far as possible in 24 hours, beating the current record of 32 miles.

He hopes to raise £12,000 for Wiltshire Air Ambulance with his efforts - equivalent to the daily cost it takes to run the service.

Mr Land said doctors had originally told him he "wouldn't be able to do anything physical".

"It's meant to show people that if you push yourself you can do anything," he added.

Mr Land has taken on a number of challenges since his near-death experience in Wiltshire in 1993, including abseiling down Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower, despite doctors initially fearing he would never fully recover.

"I basically fractured my pelvis, damaged my ribs on the left hand side, injured my shoulder and arm and had a loss of motion to my neck and right leg," he said.

"But apart from that I [just] cut my chin. I remember when I was lying in bed the guy next to me was in a neck cast, and he had fallen off a kerb in town - I just thought 'I'm very lucky'."

Mr Land's accident made headlines in the local news at the time

He had initially hoped to take on the van-pulling challenge in 2023 at Cotswold Airport, but said the venue didn’t meet Guinness’s strict criteria.

Mr Land is instead refocusing his efforts on RAF Locking, near Weston-Super-Mare, coincidentally the last place that his father, who was in the RAF, was stationed.

An exact date for the attempt has not yet been set, but it is likely to take place in August.