Eyewitnesses have described seeing the man perched on the top level of the building's multi-storey car park with his legs dangling over the edge as police tried to talk him down on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, officers on the ground trying to clear the scene ordered waiting bus passengers to go back inside the station.

Dozens of people spilled out of pubs and other buildings and lined the length of Tithebarn Street - which had to be closed off to traffic - as the drama unfolded.

Police eventually managed to talk the man down at around 8.35pm, almost an hour after they first received reports of the incident at 7.45pm.

One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: "I saw him hanging off the edge and two police officers talking to him.

"There was a good crowd of people outside, there were people all the way along Tithebarn Street looking.

"But the good news is the police got him down."

Police would only confirm on Thursday night there had been an "incident" at the bus station and that it had been concluded by 8.35pm.

A spokesman for the North West Ambulance Service said they had been placed on standby after receiving reports of "a male threatening to jump".

Tithebarn Street has now been reopened.

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