A MAN has died after falling from a telegraph pole whilst working on a residential street in Hoghton.

The 63-year-old man was working outside a house in Gregson Lane this morning when the accident happened.

Diane Heap, who lives in Gregson Lane, saw the man working on the pole earlier in the day.

She said: “I saw him before I went out, he was in one of those buckets up a crane.

“He should have stayed in there maybe. You’d just imagine that they had all the safety gear.”

Her neighbour, Mark Claydon, saw the emergency helicopter arrive.

He said: “I heard the sirens and saw an air ambulance, but that’s all.

“Of course I’m shocked to hear about it, it’s terrible that it could happen.”

Steve Ditchfield, lives in one of the houses close to the telegraph pole the man fell from.

He said: “It is a shock, it’s not very nice, I’m very shocked.

“It will be devastating for his family.”

A spokeswoman for North West Air Ambulance said: “We attended an incident at 10.29am involving a male in his sixties who had fallen from a telegraph pole.

“He had suspected severe head injuries, and was transferred to Royal Preston Hospital.”

A police spokeswoman said: “At 10.15am on Friday, November 22, police were called by the ambulance service after reports that a 63-year-old Preston man had fallen from an electricity pole on Gregson Lane at Hoghton whilst working on it.

“He was taken by ambulance to the Royal Preston Hospital where he sadly died. A joint police and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation is underway. Formal identification has not yet taken place.”

A spokesman for the HSE confirmed that the incident had been referred to them, and said they had launched a joint investigation with police.

HSE inspectors were at the site yesterday afternoon together with a police crime scene investigation team, and staff from Electricty North West.

An Electricity North West spokesperson said: “We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident and are assisting the police and Health and Safety Executive fully with their enquiries.

“Our thoughts are with his family.”