'Spiderman' fails in Canary Wharf climb

A French climber who has scaled some of the world's tallest buildings made a second attempt yesterday to climb London's Canary Wharf tower but was defeated by exhaustion and a typical burst of British rain.

Alain Robert, 40, better known as "Spiderman", slipped past security at 8.30am and climbed three quarters of the 800ft block using metal grooves that support its maintenance cradle.

He gave up 15 floors from the top after losing his grip several times in the rain and was rescued by staff in a window-cleaning cradle.

Mr Robert, who does not use safety ropes and plans to conquer the tallest building in every major international city, failed to climb the 50-storey tower seven years ago. He was arrested on the 47th floor bypolice, and was then treated to a full English breakfast at a police station.

He said he abandoned yesterday's attempt only because of the weather. "With the rain it was just impossible," he said. "I slipped many times." He said he had no plans to attempt to climb the tower again.

Police sent officers to various levels and a road was closed after he started his climb. Officers said nobody was in danger and he was not arrested.

But a Canary Wharf spokeswoman said they were considering suing "Mr bloody Spider- man" and his backers. "It's extremely irresponsible behaviour and it's not funny," she said. "Our staff are not here to look after people who choose to endanger their own lives."

Mr Robert said there would be little point in a lawsuit. "I have nothing to give them," he said. He has scaled more than 30 skyscrapers, including the Empire State Building and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.