A CONSTRUCTION worker was knocked out on a Stansted building site while working on scaffolding 30ft above the ground. A 62-year-old scaffolder received a nasty head injury when he was struck by a metal pole on the Forest Hall Road site yesterday (Thursd

A CONSTRUCTION worker was knocked out on a Stansted building site while working on scaffolding 30ft above the ground.

A 62-year-old scaffolder received a "nasty head injury" when he was struck by a metal pole on the Forest Hall Road site yesterday (Thursday).

Stansted paramedic Pete Kelly, who was on the scene in six minutes, said: "A tube somehow fell and hit his head, knocking his hard hat off.

"When I arrived, I had to get up a ladder to get to him and although he was able to speak to me he couldn't immediately recall what had happened, and he also lost some feeling down his left side."

The paramedic called the fire service for assistance in getting the injured man to safety.

"It was a nasty head injury but he was very lucky both because his hard hat protected him from the impact, and that he wasn't thrown over the edge as it would have been quite a fall," said Mr Kelly.

Fire crews from Stansted and Newport, as well as an aerial ladder platform from Harlow, arrived on the site just after 3pm.

Assistant Divisional Officer Bill McKenzie, officer in charge, said: "This was a difficult rescue, but crews did a fantastic job and made sure that the man was safely delivered to waiting ambulance crews.

"The man was at work on the site when he fell landing on scaffolding 30ft from the ground. He had suffered head and spinal injuries but was in an extremely difficult to reach position.

"We used the aerial ladder platform to reach the man and were able to get him onto the platform and lower him to safety and waiting ambulance crews.

"Firefighters worked fantastically well together to make sure that they got this man safely to the ground."

The patient was boarded and collard and taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow.