A 76-YEAR-OLD man died when a ladder flew off a builder's pick-up truck and hit him on the head as he walked a friend's dog.

Frank Elliott was just 50 yards from the care home where he lived in School Lane, Hadlow Down, near Uckfield, when the accident happened yesterday morning.

As the Toyota truck passed him, a 20-foot ladder came loose and hit him on the head. A witness said he was knocked six feet along the road.

Paramedics called to the scene tried to revive Mr Elliott, but he was pronounced dead at the scene from head wounds.

Mr Elliott, a resident of Marlowe House, was out walking a dog for a wheelchair-bound friend.

The care home's shocked proprietor Elizabeth Herbert paid tribute to Mr Elliott, saying: "He was a such a lovely, helpful man."

The truck's 22-year-old driver Daniel Horscroft, of Shrub Lane, Burwash, was on his way to the Jewson builder's yard in Heathfield. He was taken to hospital in Tunbridge Wells and later released.

Jewson last night refused to comment.

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