A MAN had to be rescued by firefighters after badly injuring his ankle following a fall which left him trapped on a roof.

Firefighters from Clacton Fire Station were called to Pier Avenue, in Clacton's town centre, shortly before 10.30am this morning.

The teams were asked to assist the ambulance service after a man in his forties fell from a ladder onto the roof of a first storey flat.

As a result, he suffered a nasty ankle injury - for which paramedics were able to give him pain relief - which left him completely stranded.

Due to his tricky location the ambulance service called on the fire service for assistance, which also sent an aerial ladder platform crew and an urban search and rescue team.

After a collaborative effort, the casualty was brought to ground level at 11.22am and was left in the care of the paramedics.

Station manager Ryan Ainger said: "We worked closely with the ambulance service and hazardous area response team to make sure we got the casualty down as safely as possible.

"One option was to use our urban search and rescue team, which had set up a rope rescue mechanism to lower him 10 to 15ft to safety.

"However, working with medics, crews were able to move him onto a stretcher, strap it to aerial ladder platform and lower him to the ground."