FIREFIGHTERS had to rescue a man after he collapsed in a control room 60ft up in the air at a power station.

He fell ill in the coal store control room at Kingsnorth Power Station on the Hoo Peninsula at about 2.30am today.

Crews from Strood and Medway fire stations were called in by paramedics from the South East Coast Ambulance Service as they felt the victim, who was in his 40s, was not well enough to climb down the 60ft steel ladder attached to the building.

They helped to slowly lower the patient down, who was then taken to hospital for treatment.

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service, said: "We helped put him in a stretcher and firefighters carried the man down to the waiting ambulance.

"It was a difficult job as the control room was very high up but the man was conscious throughout.

"We left at about 4am."