A NEWPORT man had a lucky escape hen a metal spike fell from a building and narrowly missed his head.

Keyvan Ghaemmaghami, of Somerton, had stopped at the bus stop in Queensway near the new Cambrian development in Newport city centre on Wednesday to speak to an old colleague.

The 59-year-old said: “I heard something whizz past me and then a bang on the floor right next to me. It just missed my head. It was right behind me.

“It was heavy and really sharp. It could have gone straight through my skull.”

The new building, for insurance giant Admiral, is just one part of the development at the former Cambrian Road site, currently under development by construction firm Scarborough Development Group. The building is expected to be open for business by May 2014.

The former Newport Transport bus driver said: “It nearly hit me. It was nearly a metre long. It could have killed me. It was a big shock.”

Mr Ghaemmaghami, who now drives buses for Stagecoach, believes it came from quite high up on the building, from the corner.

He said: “The weather was good. If this happens like this, what happens when it’s windy?”

Mr Ghaemmaghami went to speak to someone on site to report what had happened, and the piece of metal was taken from him.

“It’s a new building. You don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said. “But I’m alive and that’s the main thing.”

A spokesman from Scarborough Development Group said: “We are aware that a small piece of aluminium cladding has detached from the building and are immediately investigating to find the cause.

"We are currently in the process of inspecting the rest of the cladding to ensure that it is secure.”

The spokesman said the inspection work was continuing yesterday.

In October a special topping-out ceremony was held on the roof of the new Admiral building to celebrate the completion of the construction phase of the project.