A man believed to be in his 50s had to be rescued this morning after getting stuck on a roof trying to fix a TV aerial.

Firefighters from Ilford’s station were called to a two-storey home in Radnor Crescent, Redbridge, at around 10.30am to help the unlucky man. He was stuck on the roof by its chimney stack and had been waiting for half an hour when help arrived.

It took the crew around 25 minutes to then use a combination of ladders to slowly walk him down from the pitched roof.

Ilford’s watch manager Mark Mills said: “He realised once he’d got up that getting down was a lot more difficult.

“A friend of his phoned the Fire Brigade.

“It’s easy to climb up but then you realise how slippery it is going down.

“He was in a little bit of shock and he was very anxious.

“Everybody looks at some jobs and thinks ‘that’s not too difficult’ and you get to a certain point and think ‘I’ve overestimated my ability’.

“He was more relieved to be back down at ground level.”