A MAN who fell down a 20ft hole which appeared in his garden in the Graham Road area of Malvern had to be rescued.

The drama began at about 10.30am on Tuesday, when the man, whose identity has not been released, fell down a hole which suddenly appeared beneath his feet. A neighbour who heard his cries for help called the fire brigade.

Fire brigade spokesman Alec Mackie said: "The man has a well about 120ft deep and at first it was feared he had fallen down that. But it became clear that another hole had opened up and he had fallen down that."

Leading firefighter Keith Massam, the Malvern station's line rescue instructor, was off duty but in the vicinity, and arrived to give advice. However, the line rescue team itself was not needed.

Leading firefighter Adrian Thompson said: "The man was about 15ft down and we were able to lower a ladder, which he was able to climb up."

The man did not need medical help after the 20-minute rescue. It is not known what caused the hole to appear.

"It was a fair-sized hole and was about 8ft from the well," said leading firefighter Thompson.