AN injury to a railway station worker sparked a roof-top rescue.

A 34-year-old man working on guttering at York station on Friday is believed to have dislocated his hip and had to be rescued by firefighters and paramedics using a turntable ladder and stretcher.

He was taken to York District Hospital, but his injuries were not thought to be serious.

A North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: "He was in a lot of pain. 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 about an hour."

The man was working for Spencers, a sub-contractor for Railtrack, on a £700,000 roof improvement scheme.

A spokesman for the company said: "He was working on guttering at the time. 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 could not use our normal evacuation procedures, so the emergency services were called.

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