A family have told of their horror after waking to find the back of their home had collapsed to the ground.

Mark Rowden and his wife Pauline live in one of the two flats in Kingsclere Avenue, Weston, where a concrete courtyard collapsed to the ground early this morning.

Mr Rowden, 30, was asleep inside the flat along with Pauline, 32, and their two children Rosina, five and three-year-old Harry. Also staying at the property was his cousin Michael Rowden with his partner and children.

The father of two, said he woke to the sound of a "huge bang" as he lay in bed around 6.30am this morning.

He said: "At first I thought it was thunder or maybe my son had fallen out of bed. I looked out of the window and my courtyard had disappeared. It fell right through. It was absolutely gone.

"We're lucky it happened when everyone was in bed, if it had happened in the afternoon when the kids were playing out there I dread to think what would have happened.

"I'm still in shock."

Mr Rowden told how they all had to be rescued by firefighters who led them to safety on a ladder one by one from their front windows.

Pauline added: "My kids were really scared, they didn't want to come down the ladder they were so frightened. I don't want to go back in there, I'm just lucky my kids weren't out there playing."

The collapsed courtyard at the back of the family's flat housed hutches containing 13 rabbits, two guinea pigs and two hamsters. Various children's toys and bikes were also being stored there along with a plastic wendy house and wooden shed.

Daily Echo: Mark Rowden, his wife Pauline and their two children Rosina, five and three-year-old Harry

Mark Rowden, his wife Pauline and their two children Rosina, five and three-year-old Harry