When friends of Les Page say he hasn't got a lot upstairs, they are not commenting on his mental agility.

For the 53-year-old window cleaner is so terrified of ladders after an horrific fall that he has now decided to clean only bungalows.

Les broke his back last year when his trusty ladder slipped away from him as he tried to gain a foothold.

Ever since, he has vowed never to return to his ladder and now advertises with the words Window Cleaner - Bungalows Only.

Les, of New Road in Durrington, Worthing, is now concentrating his efforts on homes without stairs and uses his squeegee while standing on top of his tool box to get to the difficult bits.

His change of technique has caused a few ripples of laughter among the punters - but he just feels lucky to be alive.

Les, who lives with wife Mo, a bank worker, and has two children, Gary, 27, and David, 25, said: "I was working on a big house in Angmering when the accident happened.

"The ladder just went and I fell 14ft down before hitting a concrete slab. I was in agony.

"I had X-rays at Worthing Hospital and I fractured two vertebrae in my back. I was off work for eight weeks and decided never to go up a ladder again."

He says cleaning bungalows helps to save time and is less precarious.