AN injured workman trapped on the top of scaffolding at a Mickleton hotel had to be rescued by firefighters.

The 31-year-old heating engineer from Quedgeley in Gloucestershire, was lifted from the scaffolding on a stretcher after he injured his knee last Thursday.

He was brought 20 feet to the ground on the fire service's hydraulic platform and airlifted to Cheltenham General Hospital.

Dave Short, site manager in charge of the project at the Three Way House Hotel in Chapel Lane, said he was not sure what had happened but a small wall of concrete blocks which had not been cemented had collapsed.

"I don't really know what happened," he said. "He either jumped out of the way or tripped and was in a very inaccessible place. We had to carry him across the roof. We think he pushed the wall and it went one way and he went the other.

"Everyone in the village was out in the street. They said it was the most exciting thing since D Day!" Mr Short said Jason, a heating engineer, had been released from hospital with a torn ligament in his right knee.

Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman Andy Gillingham said he believed the wall had fallen onto Jason's leg at 9.36am last Thursday. He said two firefighters operating the hydraulic platform from Cheltenham and six firefighters from Chipping Campden spent nearly two hours at the scene liaising with paramedics to bring the man to safety.

The engineer was part of a team of 14 men working to extend the hotel, famous for its traditional British 'Pudding Club', to provide an extra seven bedrooms and a lift.

Mr Short said he had reported the accident to the Health and Safety Executive in Bristol.

4 The injured man is rescued using a hydraulic platform (dc6082-f) and 7 flown to hospital by the Air Ambulance (dc6082-c). Pictures by LOUISE BARNSLEY