A MAN was lucky to escape alive when he fell off a multi-storey car park.

The 29-year-old was one of six men who climbed inside St Johns’ car park in Colchester as part of drunken hi-jinx.

The group clambered across the roof of the Colchester Council facility, above Wilkinsons in the town centre.

Four of the pranksters got down but two got stuck, including one who had a near-fatal fall.

Firefighters were called to the car park on Friday at about 2am following reports two people were stuck.

They discovered a man stranded on the roof and another had fallen off, plummeted through a skylight above a stairwell, and landed on the steps below.

Amazingly he escaped with cuts to his head and hand, although he was taken to hospital on a stretcher as a precaution.

Station Officer Alan Cutter, from Colchester fire station, said: “We were told six people had been locked into the car park, although four had left by the time we got there. It appears one of the men tried to ‘abseil’ down a roof, but fell off and on to some wired glass. He went right through this and into the stairway below.

“Wired glass has a thin wire running through it, to make it stronger and less likely to break. If you hit it hard enough and from a distance, it will break into chips.”

Firefighters were preparing to break through the external door to the stairwell when the keyholder from the council arrived to open the door.

Mr Cutter said: “He was walking around, but had a lot of blood on his head and a large piece of glass in his hand. He was very lucky to be alive.”

The fire crews then used a ladder to rescue the sixth man, who was still on the roof.

Police were also called to the incident, but said there were no offences committed and they would be taking no further action against the men.