Help, I need a lift! Mobile crane crushes a bungalow after the 27-tonne machine tips over sending its telescopic boom crashing through the building’s roof

A 27-tonne telescopic mobile crane has crushed the side of a house after it toppled over while lifting a load earlier today. The driver of the massive machine was trapped in his cab following the accident in Basingstoke, Hampshire, shortly before 10am. The crane was reaching over the top of a bungalow when it became unbalanced and the telescopic boom crashed through the roof.

_psEmbed(“https://uknip.photoshelter.com”); The crane smashed through a portable toilet at the edge of the building site which was thankfully unoccupied at the time The 27-tonne machine also destroyed the front wall of the property and crushed a portable toilet used by the builders on the site. Firefighters were forced to use an aerial platform to release the machine’s operator who was uninjured. Fortunately, no one was in the house at the time of the incident, which is now being investigated by the Health and Safety Executive. A second crane was later brought in to remove the first one from on top of the bungalow. The incident happened at Pitman Close, Basingstoke. The crane crushed a section of the property’s front wall and part of the roof which was under construction. Five units of Basingstoke Fire Station attended the scene including the aerial platform. A Spokesman Hampshire Fire Service: ‘The Aerial Ladder Platform was used to help extricate the man trapped in the cab who fortunately escaped injury. After the stop message at 11:06 one crew remained on the scene for vehicle and building stabilisation.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHjwbgms3SA