A MAN who went missing from Burnley General Hospital's psychiatric ward had to be led down from the top of the huge gas tower in Oswald Street after threatening to jump.

The psychiatric patient, who was not wearing a coat, was said to be lucky he had not slipped and fallen to the ground -- which was approximately a 150 feet drop.

The police talked to him and he eventually decided he wanted to get down so a member of Lancashire Fire and Rescue climbed up to him.

Station officer Steve Cope, of Burnley Fire Station, said the man was so cold his hands could easily have not been able to hold on.

He said: "He was 80 to 90 per cent towards the top which I estimated was about 150 feet.

"When we got there I think he had been missing from the hospital for a couple of hours and we were there more than an hour before he came down.

"Our leading fire fighter Jed Richmond went up and brought him back down. The man was very cold so Jed took up a fire fighters jacket and a pair of gloves and he chatted to him for a while before he escorted him down.

"We were worried that with him being up there for so long and not being able to grip on he could have fallen."

The rope rescue team were sent for but as they had to travel from Lytham it was decided that Jed, who was part of the rescue team for seven years, should fetch the man down. Jed recently returned from carrying out search and rescue work after the Gujarat earthquake and also helped the victims of the Mozambique floods.

Station officer Cope said: "We were fortunate that he was on our watch and we had someone with experience."

An ambulance took the man back to Burnley General Hospital.