Bell tower rescue (From Oxford Mail)

Bell tower rescue

7:33pm Sunday 14th December 2008 in News

An 81-year-old man who collapsed while halfway up the bell tower at St Andrew’s Church, in Headington, Oxford, had to be lowered to the ground through a trap door, using pullies.

The man was trapped on a first floor platform in the tower and was rescued by a fire crew before being treated by paramedics at the scene, at 10am this morning.

A spokesman for the fire and rescue service said: “Such rescues are rare. We could not get him down any other way because of a lack of space on the stone spiral staircase.”