This is the hilarious moment a man who appeared to be very drunk attempted for more than three minutes to walk the wrong way up an escalator at a shopping centre in Birmingham in the UK.

A video of the incident showed the unidentified man make a strong start, staggering at least two thirds of the way to the top. At this point he begins to tire and winds up back at the bottom.

For several minutes he now stumbles about at the bottom of the escalator, trying in vain to make any headway.

Eventually, a security guard tries to remove the man but he makes a bid for freedom and runs up several steps. The security guard presses the emergency stop button and the man finally makes it to the top where he appears utterly exhausted.

The hilarious clip was filmed at the Cube in Birmingham in 2014.

The filmer and others present believed the man to be drunk.

This footage of a drunk man who battled with an opposite-direction escalator, was taken on Saturday at The Cube in Birmingham's Mail Box complex around 8.30pm.

The unnamed man appears to be drunk whilst battling with the downwards-moving escalator.

He tumbles and trips trying to make it to the top over and over again.

He finally makes it to the top when the security guard presses the emergency stop button.