A MAN had to be rescued after plunging head first down a steep banking into bushes.

The incident happened near the former Prestige factory building in Colne Road, Burnley, at 9.50pm last night.

Fire and Rescue Service sub-officer Peter Kelly said: "We were called by the ambulance service.

"The man was in a precarious position when we arrived, having plunged down an embankment leading to the footpath under Colne Road. He was tangled in bushes, on his back with his head pointing downhill and his feet up the slope."

Firefighters had to cut through branches one inch thick to get to the 32-year-old local man.

Sub-officer Kelly said: "We had to cut down and around him. He was complaining of leg and neck injuries.

"A collar was put on him, he was placed on a long board and then carried up to the road and waiting ambulance in a basket stretcher."

He added: "It was quite a drawn out procedure made more difficult because it had just started snowing and was really quite slippery."

The man, whose name has not been released, was allowed home from hospital after a check-up.

A police spokesman said: "He told us he had just slipped and fallen down the banking."