THE head gardener at Flamingo Land suffered head and leg injuries when he fell up to 15 feet from a theme park monorail.

Colin Braham, 59, from Terrington, was today said to be in a stable condition at Scarborough General Hospital after undergoing extensive surgery yesterday on a badly injured knee.

He is also being treated for a six-inch laceration to his scalp.

Steve Crampton, a director of the theme park and zoo near Pickering, said the accident happened at about 9am yesterday before the park opened to the public.

Mr Braham was using a maintenance buggy to get around the monorail near the baboon enclosure, intending to prune some trees that were getting too near the monorail, when he appeared to have either slipped or lost his balance.

He hit the perimeter fence during the fall but remained conscious throughout. He was treated by Flamingo Land first aiders until an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital.

Mr Crampton said Mr Braham had apparently had a "comfortable" night in hospital. He did not expect him to be able to return to work for some time.

He said no one had yet been able to talk to Mr Braham to discover exactly what happened.

"He quite badly damaged his leg, and had quite a nasty head injury. There was quite a lot of blood," added Mr Crampton.

The accident comes only weeks after a visitor suffered fatal injuries in an accident on a ride at North Yorkshire's other theme park, Lightwater Valley.

Updated: 12:04 Tuesday, July 10, 2001