A TEENAGER underwent a four-hour operation to save his hand after it was dragged into a metal cutting machine.

Two tendons and five nerves were damaged as Ian Bannister's hand was caught by a milling machine at The NETA Training Trust school at Portrack, Stockton.

Fiona MacNeill, prosecuting for the Government's Health and Safety Executive, told Teesside magistrates: "He felt a pull on the cuff of his overall sleeve as his arm was drawn on to the underside of the horizontal milling machine; that is how he sustained serious injuries.''

The 17-year-old, from Billingham, was able to press an emergency button to stop the metal cutter - but not before sustaining the injuries to his hand.

The trust, a training provider for the private sector and Government schemes, has pleaded guilty to a breach of health and safety regulations in that it is alleged it did not ensure safe methods of working were in place.

But, at what should have been a sentence hearing, the trust's barrister Andrew Findley won an adjournment after he said the prosecution was "springing" evidence on the trust in court which they had not been given sight of.

The prosecution said parts were missing from a guard on the milling machine being used by Mr Bannister.

But Mr Findley said there had been no reference to this in the report of the HSE inspector, who carried out an inspection following the accident.

The case was adjourned until December 15.