Five people have been seriously injured after a hotel balcony collapsed in West Yorkshire.

Emergency services were called out to the Casa Hotel, Brighouse, just before midday on Friday 15 February. One of those injured - the hotel‘s owner, Mr Jack McDaid - had suspected head injuries and was air lifted to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary while four other women were taken by ambulance to the same hospital.

The five were stood on the balcony when it collapsed and fell about 3m to the patio beneath. Numerous ambulances, as well as firefighters, police and paramedics attended the scene and an engineer assessed the state of the building to avoid any further incidents.

There were no fatalities on this occasion however this is not always the case.

Accidents of this nature are typically associated with older, multi-storey buildings - apartment blocks and hotels like the incident in Brighouse. For the safety of residents, staff and holidaymakers alike the structure of buildings over a certain age should be regularly inspected and any maintenance recommended carried out.

Samantha Hemsley, a serious injury solicitor from Thompsons commented: '"hat this incident and others we have been involved in makes clear is that safety regimes and standards are not just pieces of paper but have a real impact on people's working life, but also on their leisure time".