‘He’s got to take me for a drink!’ Hero Reading Fire crane driver who rescued workman from top of £750m tower block as raging inferno burned beneath reveals he doesn’t know the man he saved – and would like a drink with him

• Do YOU know the worker who was saved? If so, get in touch at [email protected]  

The heroic crane driver who dramatically saved a workman from the top of a £750million tower block in Reading as a fire raged beneath him has revealed he would like a pint with him. 

Glen Edwards, 65, moved a cradle through smoke and flames on Thursday to save his unnamed colleague who had nothing but a coat to shield him from the blaze. 

Mr Edwards spotted the workman on top of the burning £750million Reading development after a man shouted up to him that there was someone stuck on level eight. 

Do YOU know the worker who was saved? If so, get in touch at [email protected] 

Today he said he has never met the man he rescued but thinks he is owed a drink from him. 

‘Obviously he’s a bit traumatised so whenever he’s coming back on site [I’ll meet him]. He’s got to take me across the road for a drink,’ he told GMB.  

Glen Edwards, 65, (pictured) appeared on Good Morning Britain this morning to talk about his heroic rescue of a man stuck on a burning development 

Glen Edwards – the man operating the crane during the rescue effort tat saw a man saved from a burning tower in Reading today

Remarkable footage shows the man stranded at the top of the £750m One Station Hill development in Reading as the building is engulfed in flames

Today Mr Edwards said he has never met the man he rescued but thinks he is owed a drink from him

Station Road and Blagrave Street were closed as police launched a drone to investigate the fire 

Recounting last week’s unbelievable events, Mr Edwards said he has never experienced a rescue as ‘dramatic’ as this one on the job. 

‘Never at all. I have cradled a couple of guys off – [when they] damaged their leg and things like that so they could get in an ambulance – but nothing as dramatic as this,’ he said.   

Mr Edwards said he was concreting when someone shouted up to him that a man was stuck on level eight of the development. 

‘I was actually concreting at the time, I had the concrete skip on. So I was in that area and then one of my banksmen on the ground said there is a fire and the fire alarm was going off. I was in the crane operating.

‘So I had to get the concrete skip off, I was hoisting up and then someone shouted out ”there’s someone on level eight” which is that level where the guy was, and I stopped hoisting up, I was about 20 metres up in the air. 

‘As I slewed round I could see the guy out my left window – he was waving his coat, waving his coat. You can see there the wind was absolutely terrible.’ 

He added: ‘I knew the radius […] I decided I was going to come down on top of that radius. As I was coming down the cradle was swinging backwards and forwards and catching the wind. 

People were told to avoid the area, with nearby locals told to close their windows and doors, as smoke hit villages several miles away

The South Central Ambulance Service said two people had been taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation

A carpenter, who was working nearby, said onlookers below applauded as the man clambered into a metal basket attached to the crane and was carried away from the flames

The flames and smoke spread across the whole roof of the £750m One Station Hill office development close to Reading Station

‘When it coms off the fence it kicks off the fence and he just managed to grab hold of it.’ 

The heroic crane driver said he was ‘really shaking’ during the ordeal, adding: ‘I was alright when I got down and everything and I needed a quiet minute to get myself together. 

‘When everyone was about – when everyone come up to me and said ”well done, well done” – that’s when the penny dropped.’ 

READ MORE: Revealed: Reading Fire hero crane driver who winched colleague to safety from top of raging inferno after seeing him desperately waving his coat as £750m tower block burned beneath him

The dramatic three-minute rescue undoubtedly saved the builder’s life as all around him blazing cladding caused massive clouds of toxic smoke.

Incredibly despite the severity of the fire, only two people needed to go to hospital with smoke inhalation, including the workman saved by Mr Edwards. The 16-storey office block, situated opposite Reading rail and Crossrail station, is part of a development that endured another fire just five months ago. 

A carpenter, who was working nearby, said onlookers below applauded as the man clambered into a metal basket attached to the crane and was carried away from the flames.

The witness, who did not want to be named, said: ‘I was in the next door building, there was a guy standing up there (on top of the building), luckily the crane came in just in time.

‘He was coughing [when he came down], from the smoke, you know what I mean.

‘When he got inside the crane and the crane put him down everyone was clapping.

‘The crane driver was very fast. He was still in the crane while the building was on fire.’

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