A labourer has told how he desperately gripped an eight foot steel rod which had plunged eight inches into his face through his eye, to stop further damage.

Brave Tony Coffey clung on to the threaded metal rod for more than an hour after it pierced his eye as he working on an overnight refit of the Argos store in the Forster Square Retail Park.

The 35-year-old labourer, who is due to become a dad for the first time in November, clutched the bar as firefighters cut it to within a metre of his face. He continued to hold the bar throughout the ambulance journey to Bradford Royal Infirmary and in the hospital, until he was anaesthetised.

Amazingly, surgeons who operated to remove the rod said there was no damage other than a superficial wound, but it was too early to say what the final outcome would be.

"I knew it was stuck in me straight away," said Mr Coffey, speaking from his hospital bed. "I was in a lot of pain. I had an absolutely red hot burning sensation. It was like someone sticking a red hot needle in my eye."

Mr Coffey's workmate and friend Mark Walsh held the end of the rod until paramedics arrived at the scene.

"I am just glad my mate was there to hold the rod," said Mr Coffey, of Oldham.

"I just wanted to keep conscious and focused on everything going on around me. I had hold of the rod with both hands to try and keep the pressure off.

"I knew it would be a bad situation if I thought negative thoughts because we only have one chance in this life."

Mr Coffey kept his other eye shut throughout most of the ordeal as firefighters cut the rod down to size so he could get into an ambulance.

"I could hear the firefighters practising on another rod," he said. "I remember them cutting the rod in my eye because I could feel the vibrations and the snap.

"I was holding the rod all the way until I was in the operating theatre. I did not want anyone else holding it because I knew the pressure. I was just concentrating on holding it because I knew if it moved just a millimetre, it could do a lot of damage."

Mr Coffey did not know until yesterday that firemen were called back to the hospital to cut the rod down further as surgeons prepared to remove it.

He praised the firefighters, paramedics and hospital staff at Bradford Royal Infirmary. "I want to sincerely thank everyone from the bottom of my heart," he said. "What they have done is unbelievable. The fire service was fantastic."

Mr Coffey's 27-year-old fiancee, who is seven months pregnant, travelled from Oldham to be at his bedside.

"I think I am a very lucky guy," said Mr Coffey. "When it happened I did not think much of it. I just thought it had penetrated the skin. I did not know it had missed vital organs until I was shown the x-ray.

"I put it down to the Irish in me. I think someone was looking after me. I just want to get my eye back to normal and have a healthy baby. It still hurts but it's not as bad as having an eight foot rod in my eye. "