A TEENAGER was captured on camera climbing a 100ft crane on a building site.

His friends watching from the ground were carrying pillows to break his fall.

Amy Tarling filmed the footage on her mobile phone before she and brother Harry alerted their parents, who live close to the building site in Turner Road, Colchester.

Amy, 12, said: “Me and my friends were playing outside and all of a sudden we saw a kid walking across the crane.

“I thought it was a really dangerous.”

The youngster, a pupil at the Gilberd School, filmed the teenager with the intention of showing the footage to the site’s developers, Linden Homes.

Amy then alerted dad Scott.

Mr Tarling, 40, said: “When I went outside, there was a young man climbing down from the top of the crane.

“I kept an eye on him to see where he went.”

He approached the lad, who he described as 14 to 16 and his group of eight friends.

He said: “I asked him why he did it, and he said he did it for a laugh. His mates all had pillows and said if he fell, they would put pillows down.”

The site, known as Northfields, is under construction is surrounded by 8ft tall fencing, but Mr Tarling said he believed the teenagers had managed to climb over it.

Mr Tarling’s wife Natalie, 38, reported the incident to Linden Homes and sent the video footage.

Adrian Bohr, managing director from Linden Homes Eastern said: “We acted immediately by installing security on site.

“We have reviewed the fencing around the site, which was secure, and the separate enclosure to the tower crane, which was also secure.

“We are reviewing security measures out of working hours to stop people putting themselves and others in danger.

“We would take this opportunity to remind everyone building sites can be extremely dangerous and must not be entered in any circumstance."