A MAN was airlifted to hospital after falling 25 feet from a ladder while working on the roof of a house.

The self-employed builder, who is in his 60s, was believed to be in the process of stepping off the ladder and onto the roof of a house in Blenheim Street, Colne, when the ladder slipped and he fell into the back yard.

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Neighbours said the man, who suffered a fractured pelvis and broken wrist, had landed on his back from the fall at around 9.15am yesterday.

The ambulance service and police were called, with the injured worker taken to the Royal Preston Hospital by air ambulance.

His condition was understood to be improving yesterday afternoon.

PC Nigel Keates, from the Colne policing team, said: “It was a self-employed workman who slipped when the ladder went from underneath him.

“A neighbour had attended to him and called the ambulance.

“He had no visible injuries but he was in a great deal of discomfort and pain.

“We were called because it was an accident at the workplace.

“We also assisted when the air ambulance landed, because people tend to come out when they see the air ambulance circling and end up standing right under it when it is trying to land.”

The air ambulance landed at Colne Cricket Club just before 10am, with the man moved from the back of Blenheim Street to the club 300 metres away by paramedics, before being flown to Preston.

A neighbour who lives opposite said: “We heard the air ambulance overhead so we looked out and could see the paramedics and the police outside the house.

“He was working on the back of a house and as was going from the ladder to the roof he fell. He landed on his back which was probably fortunate. His injuries could have been a lot worse.”

The tradesman was working on an unoccupied property in Blenheim Street, a short road on a slight hill.

Resident Paula Butterworth said: “I didn’t hear the fall but I noticed an ambulance and police turn up.

“There was a lot of activity for a while and they were obviously being very careful with him considering he had fallen from such a height. He was right up by the roof.”

A North West Ambulance Service spokesman confirmed they were called at 9.19am and arrived on the scene at 9.24am, before asking for assistance from the North West Air Ambulance, which arrived at 9.58am.

The Health and Safety Executive said they had not yet been informed about the accident.