The man managed to clamber down from his cab over 60 feet in the air to escape on to the roof of an old Primark store after the crane came to rest precariously on the side of the four storey building.

The dramatic events unfolded at around 1.50pm on Saturday afternoon in West Street.

Eyewitnesses reported that tower crane slowly tipped over before coming to rest against the roof of the old Primark building.

The crane on hire from NMT is a Spierings six axle folding tower crane with a 60m horizontal jib.

It was being used by fit-out firm BW Workplace Experts to support its refurbishment of the Reading Primark store.

A second crane had to be brought in to stabilise the mobile while more than 60 homes had to be evacuated with people put up by the councils in local hotels.

Engineers from the Dutch manufacturer have been called in to head the major operation to retrieve the crane.

Superintendent Robert France of the Thames Valley Police said on Sunday: “The crane has now been stabilised and the fire service has left the scene, however Thames Valley Police and Reading Borough Council remain at the scene.

“Although the crane has been stabilised the jib of the crane is damaged, therefore expert engineers from the Netherlands are travelling to the UK today to assess the damage. It is possible that it may take a number of days to repair the jib and remove the crane from the scene.”