A MAN had to be airlifted to safety after he got stuck in a quarry with a dislocated knee.

Firefighters, paramedics, the Air Ambulance and a specialist cliff rescue team from Deal were rallied to Culland Quarry, off Pilgrims Way, Aylesford, just after noon on Friday, initially in response to reports of a man having fallen into a quarry.

The emergency was scaled down when crews discovered the 37-year-old had dislocated his knee whilst walking in the half-mile square quarry and had been unable to climb out.

The man was airlifted out of the quarry and transferred to a land ambulance waiting in a nearby field.

Watch manager Grant Brooker, from Larkfield Fire Station, said: "He had fallen over and thought he had broken his leg, but he had just dislocated his knee.

"We thought he had fallen down into the quarry and was on a ledge, but he was at the bottom of the quarry and couldn't walk out.

"It was difficult access and difficult to locate him because there's quite a few paths. It was certainly useful having the air ambulance - it's worth its weight in gold."