Firefighters' most unusual rescues have been revealed, including someone with their hand stuck in a shredder and someone trapped in the bars of a fence.

Sutton's firefighters have been called to six separate incidents in the last three years, where people have got rings stuck on their fingers, one where a child got a toy stuck on his thumb and another where a woman got her legs stuck in a bannister.

The London Fire Brigade has released the figures relating to people getting stuck or trapped in things as it seeks to encourage people to use a bit of common sense before they dial 999.

In other areas of the capital, firefighters have blamed the 'Fifty Shades of Grey effect' for a rise in the number of people getting stuck in handcuffs and trapping their genitals in household items.

Firefighters have been called out to 79 incidents of people getting stuck in handcuffs and one where a man got his genitals stuck in a toaster.

Sutton's firefighters have been called to 17 incidents of people getting stuck in things in the last three years:

  • a person with their finger stuck in a shredder;
  • a child with its head in a chair;
  • a women with her leg stuck in a bannister;
  • a man with his hand in the seat of a van;
  • a person stuck in the bars of a metal fence;
  • two children with their heads stuck in a high chairs;
  • six people with their fingers stuck in rings;
  • a child trapped in a bicycle chain;
  • a child with its hand stuck in a chair;
  • a child trapped in a piece of wood;
  • a child with a toy car stuck on its thumb.

Third officer Dave Brown said: "Some of the incidents our firefighters are called out could be prevented with a little common sense.

"I don’t know whether it’s the Fifty Shades effect, but the number of incidents involving items like handcuffs seems to have gone up.

"I’m sure most people will be Fifty Shades of red by the time our crews arrive to free them.

"I’d like to remind everyone that 999 is an emergency number and should only be used as such. When firefighters are out attending to some of these avoidable  incidents, someone else could be in real need of emergency assistance."

A spokesman added people should not force rings onto their fingers, people should always keep the keys handy if they use handcuffs and said fingers and electrical appliances do not mix.

 

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