TWO MEN narrowly escaped serious injury after an office roof collapsed, sending bricks and rubble crashing down around them.

The men were working at A1 and Tiger Cabs Private Hire in Church Street, Burnley, when tons of masonry collapsed just a few feet from them, sending up clouds of black dust.

Cab operator Majid Ali said: "We are lucky to be alive. If we had been sitting a few feet in the other direction it would have landed right on us." Police sealed off the busy main road for a short time because of fears of further collapses.

Half a dozen police vehicles rushed to the scene and the pavement around the cab office was coned off.

Rubble and dust covered the floor and furniture in the office. On one wall there was a three foot high pile of bricks and mortar.

The incident happened around 10am this morning as shoppers were beginning to make their way to the town centre.

The office's landlord and a team of builders were working on an upstairs room when the cab office ceiling collapsed.

Cab driver Mohammed Gulfaraz added: "We were just sitting there when the roof came down on us. It just missed us. We ran out of the office as quickly as we could."

Mohammed Shabir, who rents the office, said: "The landlord had got a lad and a lass and a few men and had gone upstairs through the takeaway next door.

"They started pulling up the floorboards and taking some bricks away, when suddenly the whole chimney just came down. Luckily, there were only two people in at the time.

"We've spent thousands of pounds on refurbishing this office."

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