A FREAK injury sparked this dramatic roof rescue at York Railway Station.

A 34-year-old worker was working on guttering on the roof at the station, but when he stood up his hip joint "popped".

An ambulance was called at 12.31pm yesterday and painkillers were administered by paramedics.

Using a turntable ladder and a para-stretcher, firefighters then helped him off the roof and he was taken by ambulance to York District Hospital.

He suffered tissue damage in the incident, but the injuries are not thought to be serious.

"He was in a lot of pain," said a fire service spokesman.

"Because of his condition it was difficult to move him. But using a special stretcher, the type used for cliff rescues, we managed to get him down and into an ambulance. He was on the roof for around an hour."

The man was working for Spencers, a sub-contractor for Railtrack, on a £700,000 roof improvement scheme at the station, including re-roofing the portico.

"He was working on guttering at the time," said a spokesman for the company.

"He was crouching down working, but when he stood up he did something to himself. We think he dislocated his hip.

"After it happened he was in so much pain we couldn't use our normal evacuation procedures so the emergency services were called.

"He was hurting a lot and you had to feel sorry for him."

Updated: 09:34 Saturday, June 02, 2001