Toddler in window fall drama

Meanwhile, witnesses called The Middy after seeing the air ambulance’s blue and white helicopter land in a nearby field and paramedics run to the scene.

Sussex Police said the drama happened around midday on Friday when emergency services were called to a house near Haywards Heath Road, Balcombe.

The scramble followed reports that a two-year-old boy had fallen from a first-floor window.

The air ambulance was called but the boy was taken by road ambulance to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where he was initially assessed as having “no significant injuries”.

He was kept in hospital overnight as a precaution.

Neighbours said they heard the noise of the air ambulance hovering but were unsure what had happened.

One woman said: “I only heard from a neighbour afterwards that a two-year-old boy had fallen from a first-floor window.” She added: “People saw the paramedics running down the road carrying their equipment. I think there was quite a commotion.”

The Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance service reported receiving the call at 11.51am on Friday. The aircraft took 12 minutes to leave its base at Redhill, across the Surrey border, and arrive in Balcombe.

The helicopter, which is funded entirely by charitable donations, landed in a field next door to Buttercup Barn Nursery on the Haywards Heath Road.

Nursery manager Petra Hallam said she first heard the loud noise of the helicopter before seeing it.

“I heard it before I saw it. After it landed we saw the paramedics get out and run across the field.

“It was very loud and the children and the staff were very excited. In fact, we all went out to see it from inside the nursery’s fence.

“They were there for quite a while.”