A night skydive ended in drama for three military personnel when a parachute wrapped around one of them forcing them to cut it away and land on two Shrewsbury main roads.

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Sergeant Reg Green, from the Royal Artillery Parachute Team, described the incident as the “scariest” he has been involved with. Sergeant Green and two colleagues experienced the problem as they took part in a skydive as part of a Halloween and bonfire event at the West Mid Showground on Saturday night.

The three were due to land in the arena, but after forming a canopy stack – with each skydiver above another – a parachute collapsed and wrapped around Sergeant Green.

Sergeant Green, 37, took part in the skydive with Bombadier Kenny Everett, 34, and Lance Bombadier Mike Outen, 26.

He said: “For some reason the middle canopy collapsed and wrapped around myself which caused us to lose a lot of height and the wind took us out towards Shrewsbury itself. We tried to sort the canopy out to get it off me but were unable to clear it. Kenny cut his main parachute away and deployed his reserve.”

He said that by this time there was no chance to get back to the arena, meaning he and Bombadier Everett landed in Copthorne Road near to Frankwell Roundabout, with Lance Bombadier Outen landing in nearby Frankwell.