A GIANT crane toppled over at a famous Poole boatyard crushing a small lorry and narrowly missing two £3.5m super yachts and an expensive Bentley car parked nearby.

The mobile crane was being put through its early morning checks when it crashed on to its side at the Sunseeker International yard opposite Poole Quay on Monday.

A flat-bed lorry belonging to the boatmakers was crushed under the weight of the crane although no-one was hurt in the incident, which is now being investigated.

One eyewitness claimed the crane did not have its stabilising "legs" in place at the time of the incident, shortly before 8.45am.

"The crane had its boom out and it just missed a customer's sports Bentley that was parked nearby as well as two 98ft and 105ft boats that are worth £3.5m each," said another man who also witnessed the accident.

The crane is thought to be used mainly for lifting mouldings around the yard, although it is not generally used for hoisting the expensive Sunseeker motor yachts.

Firefighters from Hamworthy were called to make the toppled crane safe and helped deal with leaking fuel.

In a statement Sunseeker said: "During routine checks being carried out by a trained crane operator a mobile crane became unstable and toppled on to its side.

"The crane was not handling a load at the time of the incident and the operator of the crane was able to disembark unharmed.

"The fire brigade was immediately called to make the crane safe and the Health and Safety Executive was informed."

A spokesman for the HSE in Bristol said an investigation would now take place.