A CONSTRUCTION worker escaped serious injury after he fell more than 20ft from a lift yesterday.

The 56-year-old man was working with his son on the roof of a new car showroom when he fell off a scissor lift.

He fell into bushes and rolled down an embankment. Paramedics spent ten minutes cutting through foliage to bring the man out on a stretcher.

He was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City, where he was last night being treated for a fractured collarbone.

The injured man, who has not been named, runs R Thompson Roofing, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

The family company, which includes his two sons, was working on the roof of the Minories Toyota showroom in Sunderland Road, Gilesgate, near Durham.

Thompson's had been sub-contracted by Oasis Cladding, based in Richmond, North Yorkshire, which, in turn, was working on the showroom for the Hull-based PDR Construction company.

PDR site manager Joe Cattermole said: "If he hadn't have fallen on to the bushes, things could have been a lot more serious, or even fatal."

It is believed both the man's sons were on site, and that one was on the scissor lift at the time. The Health and Safety Executive has launched an investigation.