A MAN had to be rescued from the face of a quarry by firefighters when he became stuck after climbing halfway up.

The 21-year-old, believed to be from Worcester, had been climbing with two companions up the face of the North Quarry in Malvern when he slipped on scree.

The trio, two men and a woman, had climbed about 100m up the 200m face.

"He lost his footing and slipped slightly injuring his shoulder and he froze," said Malvern fire station officer Ian Seward.

The other two made their way to safety and called the emergency services shortly before 1pm yesterday.

Two crews from Malvern fire station, including the off-road vehicle and line rescue team were called to the scene.

"They went to the top of the quarry face and pinpointed the man," said Mr Seward.

Four specially trained firefighters abseiled down the quarry face to reach the man, secured him to a harness and a rope and helped him down.

"There was an ambulance standing by in case his injuries were severe but he did not need to be taken to hospital," said the station officer.

Mr Seward said fire crews had been called to rescue people from the quarry before and urged people not to climb there.

"It's fenced off at the bottom and at the top. It's fairly clear you should not climb up there.

"It's just so dangerous because the scree slides away whenever you change your footing.

"People get stranded about halfway up and realise they can't get back down."

Emergency services left the scene shortly after 3pm.