A YOUNGSTER had to be rescued by firefighters after getting stuck on a wooden girder 15ft above the ground.

The 12-year-old girl was playing with friends on the beach beside Old Cemetery Road, Hartlepool on Tuesday night.

She decided to climb one of the wooden girders on the jetty, but got stuck.

Sub officer Mick Ingram, from the Headland Fire Station, said: "I think she panicked as she was there for around 40 minutes. She eventually rang the fire brigade using her mobile phone and we went out to help her down.

"She was suffering from shock and cold."

Paramedics attended the scene and took the girl to the University Hospital of Hartlepool suffering from shock.