Hot air balloon forced to land in Nottinghamshire town

• Pictures from Patrick Allan

A person suffered minor injuries after a hot air balloon was forced to land in a town in Nottinghamshire.

People in Sutton-in-Ashfield were left shocked after the balloon landed on Saturday (10 July) evening next to the dlewells Shopping Centre and touched the roof of The Nags Head pub next door.

Pilot Andrew Davidson was forced to perform the unexpected landing in the shopping centre's service yard, opposite Lloyds Bank on Forest Street. Mr Davidson, who has been a hot air balloon navigator for 35 years, described the event “once in a lifetime” and extremely rare.

The balloon took off from Bramcote Park and planned to fly for an hour before landing in the open countryside - but a lack of fuel triggered the surprise landing next to the pub.

Describing what happened, Mr Davidson said: "I was already looking for fields to land in and found nothing suitable and so I found myself flying over Sutton-in-Ashfield with insufficient fuel to clear the built-up area."

"The only way to stop the balloon was to hit the far wall of the shopping centre, so we hit the far wall at about five miles per hour."

The 69-year-old explains how when navigating the balloons he has to avoid livestock, powerlines and standing crops.

“Almost always you can find a field that you can land in" he adds, "I was just unable to do so on that occasion.”

Officers from British Transport Police (BTP) spotted the balloon coming down and rushed to the scene.

They provided first aid to those involved in the crash and then helped to get the balloon back under control.

One person suffered minor injuries in the incident.

Colin Dunstan runs the Jacket Potatoes and Outside Catering van in the town centre right outside The Nag Head.He said: "It's definitely something unordinary and the type of thing that doesn't happen every day. It could have really damaged the pub."Nathan Marchewka, 73, said: "I'm amazed that more people are not talking about it."