A motorcycling enthusiast has invited bikers from across Europe to commemorate an accident that nearly killed him 40 years ago.

Earl Parker, of Eastburn, and his brother Reginald were catapulted across a junction, over an 8ft wall and into a cemetery when they tried to avoid a van in November 1965.

Reginald, who was 29 at the time, suffered just a fractured pelvis in the accident.

But Earl, then 19, was knocked unconscious. When he woke up he saw his legs at a contorted angle.

He later learnt he had broken every bone in his legs, bones in his right arm, had five broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, a fractured skull and a punctured lung.

The incident happened on November 13, when the pair, with Earl riding pillion, were travelling down Halifax Road towards Keighley.

A van pulled out in front of them from Ingrow Lane. Reginald tried to avoid the vehicle by pulling into Ingrow Lane but he hit a horse trough on the bend.

Earl said: "I regained consciousness and thought 'whose legs are those?' I was up against the wall and my legs were up the wall and over my shoulder the wrong way around."

He was taken to Airedale Hospital, where he stayed for nearly six months. He also had two years of physiotherapy.

But his legs were saved by a surgeon, who had recently been taught in America.

Earl said: "I was extremely lucky because the surgeon who dealt with me had just come back from studies in America, where he had learnt new techniques.

"They practiced on me as a guinea pig because I had nothing to lose, in effect. Otherwise I wouldn't have walked again."

Earl's procedures included ankle and knee construction.

His ankles still need work doing on them, 40 years on from the accident, and he is next due in hospital in the New Year.

When he left hospital he decided not to use his bike again.

He said: "For my mother's sake, I gave up the bike. We were three brothers and we were all bikers.

"We were all injured at some point or another, so we all gave up."

But three months after he bought a car, he was involved in a serious crash. And after his mother's death he bought another bike. His brother Reginald died in 1983.

He started competitive trials riding in 1988 and, despite regular accidents since, he now rides thousands of miles each summer on the continent.

His next goals are to ride across South America and Australia.

This weekend, many of his biking pals from across the country and some from further afield are invited to a bash at his home.

He said: "I will be celebrating having survived 40 years. I have survived and am still biking. People who know me already know that if you have nine lives, I have run out of them."

For more information about Earl's celebration contact him on 07880 706508.