PARAMEDICS used a forklift truck to rescue an injured passenger from the top deck of a crashed bus.

Steve McKean and Allan Hunter faced a tricky situation when they found the man with suspected back injuries.

They had to strap him to a spinal board to keep him flat while they got him off the vehicle in Jarrow, South Tyneside.

Mr McKean spotted a forklift truck and flagged down the driver.

He said: "We were about to get the fire brigade out to help us take the patient through the emergency exit. But someone joked that they would end up cutting the roof off.

"Just then, I saw a forklift in a yard nearby, and we decided to get them to help us instead.

"A couple of minutes later, I was being hoisted up to the top of the bus sitting on a wooden palette, and we managed to remove the patient through the window that way.

"It was all over very quickly, and he was on his way to hospital in no time at all."

Forklift driver Alfie Thewlis said: "The palette was the best way to keep the man flat on his back because it would have been impossible to get him down the stairs.

"It isn't something you do every day here, but it certainly made a change from the routine."

Two passengers were injured in the accident, thought to have happened when a taxi driver opened his door in front of the bus, forcing it to screech to a halt.