A council worker plunged 20ft from a tree in Wolverhampton after losing his balance as he stretched to saw a branch.

The 47-year-old man was today recovering in hospital where he is being treated for a suspected broken hip and dislocated knee.

Horrified colleagues who were working on the ground rushed to his aid as he hit the pavement in Regent Street, Bilston, yesterday.

It is not known whether he was wearing a safety harness and the incident will be investigated.

The group, made up of arboricultural officers employed by Wolverhampton City Council, had been working in the street all week felling and pruning trees.

The road was sealed off between Dover Street and Prouds Lane while paramedics worked at the scene. Resident Balbir Singh, aged 57, who lives across the road, heard a commotion in the street just after 10.30am.

He said: “I’d stepped outside to empty my bins when there was shout.

“I looked over and saw a man lying on the ground obviously in a great deal of pain.

“He’d been working up the ash tree since about 9am while another man collected the logs and a third was feeding them through the shredding machine.

“They phoned the paramedics and tried to give him first aid until help arrived.” He added: “It was an awful thing to happen. The injured man was conscious and able to speak to his wife on the phone but he was clearly in a lot of pain.”

Another resident, Elaine Fellows, aged 53, said a council road sweeper came to clear the road of debris after the incident before it could be opened again.

An air ambulance was called to the scene after initial reports that the man had fallen 40ft but it was not needed in the end.

Felicity Roberts, spokeswoman for Wolverhampton City Council, said senior staff were at the scene within minutes.

She added: “A council health and safety officer was also sent to the site to investigate and the incident has been reported to the Health and Safety Executive.”

She said it was not known whether the man who was injured had been wearing a safety harness.