Teenager plunges 25 feet through Trawden factory roof

8:23pm Sunday 11th May 2008

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A TEENAGER plunged 25 feet through a factory roof ontoa conrete floor after climbing up to retrieve a football.

Alexander Hodkinson, 14,.plunged through a Perspex panel and into a pit at one of the LBS warehouses in Cotton Tree Lane, Trawden.

Firefighters, unable to get into the warehouse through the shutter doors, were forced to break in through a side door using hammers at 8.40pm on Saturday.

The teenager, of Bright Street, Colne, was rushed to the Royal Blackburn Hospital after being given oxygen at the scene by paramedics.

But fire and ambulance crews and police who attended the scene were amazed that he wasn't more seriously injured.

Medical staff discovered he had sustained a broken wrist and relatively minor head injuries.

Michael Gee, a supervisor at the warehouse, who LBS bosses contacted after being told about the accident, said: "The shutters on this warehouse, which is disused, seemed to be broken.

"I saw the paramedics give the lad oxygen before taking him to the hospital.

"He is very lucky it was that roof because the others are about 40 foot high and it could have been far more serious if he had fallen off those."

Burnley watch manager Taylor said the youngster had climbed onto the roof, which sits behind a number of other warehouses, to get his ball.

The other LBS warehouses in the area contain gardening goods which are shipped to homes across the UK by mail order.

He said: "He had fallen through the plastic panel in the roof because he stepped on it and it cracked. He fell right through.

"We went in and with the help of the ambulance and police got him onto a stretcher. He was conscious and the ambulance checked him over and took him to hospital."

A police spokesperson warned other children about the dangers of climbing onto business roofs and added: "This boy has fallen through the roof onto a concrete floor and he is lucky that he was not more serioulsy hurt."