Reading fire crane driver hero says workman he saved owes him a drink

Glen Edwards saved colleague from blaze on top of £750 million tower block on 23 November

A crane driver who heroically saved a workman from a huge blaze in Reading has described how the rescue effort unfolded.

Glen Edwards, 65, saved his colleague from a fire at the top of a £750 million tower block on 23 November.

Mr Edwards saw his fellow Sir John McAlpine construction worker trapped on the flame-engulfed building. The crane operator admitted he has never met the man he saved and is yet to speak to him after the dramatic incident.

Glen Edwards, 65, saved his colleague from a blaze at the top of a £750 million tower block (GMB/ Independent TV)

“Obviously he’s a bit traumatised so whenever he’s coming back on site [I’ll meet him],” he told Good Morning Britain, adding: “He’s got to take me across the road for a drink.”

Recounting the fire, Mr Edwards said he heard fire alarms at about 11.40am and had been preparing himself to get off the crane, which was hoisted around 20m in the air.

He then used the crane to save his colleague despite being barely able to see past the smoke and flames.

“I couldn’t see him because of the smoke and the flames,” he said. “Every now and then I got a glimpse of him and then the smoke came back.

“I tried to land the cage between him and the fire, which I did eventually. I had some instructions from the groundsman on the radio, but there was so much noise with all the alarms going off.”

A workman was lifted to safety by a crane after a fire at a high-rise building in Reading ((Chris Lauder/X/PA))

As the blaze engulfed the high-rise tower block, footage captured the crane rescue before a crowd burst into applause.

Two people, including the individual rescued from the One Station Hill building, were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation, neither of which are being treated as severe cases.

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue said in a statement that without Mr Edward’s “incredibly skillful rescue” they could have been looking at “an entirely different scenario”.