HAVING accidents is a way of life for Roy 'Damage' Turner of Exbourne who is competing for the title of the UK's most accident prone man.

At the age of five, Roy's parents started to realise their son might be accident-prone when he was hospitalised three times in two weeks.

His run of luck has continued throughout his 18 years and to date he has broken his arm, his wrist, his nose twice and split his eye open three times.

So when Roy decided to train as a doctor, the initial reaction was one of fear in his household.

His mum Carolyn said jokingly: 'I would say to any potential patients out there at the moment Roy's interests lie in the area of research so any fears can be allayed.'

She said her son played several sports and that was where a lot of the accidents stemmed from.

'He's a bit of a live wire really,' she said. 'The good thing about having an accident on the pitch is that being in a team of medics he can get stitched up straight away.'

In the last three months, Roy's accident log includes dislocating his shoulder, being knocked unconscious playing rugby and cutting his finger open on a razor on Boxing Day.

Roy, who was nick-named 'Damage' at school because he used to break a lot of things, has made it to the final of the competition run by healthcare company Smith and Nephew after winning the South West heat. The top prize will be a luxury holiday to the value of £1,500.

Mrs Turner, who nominated her son, said Roy was pretty tough and resilient and bounced back very quickly from accidents. Fortunately, none of his injuries had been too serious.

'He does not realise he is accident-prone, it's just a way of life for him,' she said.

He was such a regular visitor to casualty when he was younger that his name appeared three time consecutively on the register.

'Since I nominated Roy I have found out about many more accidents he had at school which he did not admit to me at the time,' she added.

'I think he is in with a pretty good chance of winning the competition. It's all a bit of a laugh to Roy really.'