Trapped in urban Britain – from locked in loo to falling down drain
TRAPPED in urban Britain: From being locked in a toilet for four days, falling down a drain and getting stuck inside an arcade machine… the people who unwittingly fell victim to everday life
- Suburban Britain is full of places people could get stuck from drains to toilets
- The tales show the hazards of fences, toilets, drains, and arcade claw machines
Britain’s suburbs have traditionally been considered safe places for children and families that let residents live their lives out of harm’s way.
They conjure up images of semi-detached houses, well kept lawns and leafy roads.
Yet beneath the surface, Britain hides many a hazard that pose very real dangers – demonstrated by the odd situations these unfortunate souls found themselves in.
The schoolgirl wedged in a storm drain
Ella-Anne Birchenough got stuck in a storm drain after dropping her brand new iPhone while walking her dog
The 16-year-old schoolgirl got trapped while trying to retrieve the phone she had bought just two weeks earlier
A 16-year-old girl in Dover, Kent found herself firmly stuck in a storm drain after dropping her branding new iPhone while on a walk with her dog.
Determined to retrieve the phone, Ella-Anne Birchenough climbed into the drain – only to find herself unable to get out.
Ella-Anne, who was 16 when the story was first reported in 2014, had bought the iPhone on a contract just two weeks earlier and was desperate to get it back.
An amused crowd, which included her own mother, quickly gathered around to watch her.
Luckily, the girl was able to be freed by firemen after the emergency services were called.
Kent Fire and Rescue Service rushed to the 16-year-old’s aid within minutes before hauling her out to freedom.
The fire brigade arrived and freed the girl within minutes after he mother called the emergency services
Kent Fire and Rescue Service were called at 7.17pm and had already freed the schoolgirl by 7.26pm
The fire brigade were called at 7.17pm and had already freed Ms Birchenough by 7.26pm after her mother dialled 999.
Explaining the incident, Ms Birchenough said at the time: ‘I was talking to somebody and I went to put my phone in my pocket and it fell down the drain.
‘I thought to myself ‘I’m not leaving this’ and I jumped down to get it.
‘I wasn’t really even stuck, I just need somebody to help lift me out but my mum got all panicky.
‘When they pulled me out I ran straight home and jumped in the bath. I think it was just water but I wasn’t taking any chances.
‘I was just laughing the whole time, I have seen the funny side of it. You just have to laugh along with it.’
The prankster lodged in a traffic marker
A prankster in Hemel Hempsted became lodged inside a luminous traffic bollard after putting it on as a joke
A prankster in Hemel Hempsted left local shoppers bamboozled after becoming lodged inside a luminous white and yellow traffic marker.
The jokester had initially got inside the plastic bollard as a prank but quickly found he was unable to get himself free.
Police officers later arrived to help the trickster’s friend free the man by laying him on his back and pulling him out by his legs.
The prankster was eventually able to wriggle out of the bollard with the help of local police who were reportedly highly amused by the bizzare scene.
The jokester was freed after a policeman and his friend pulled him out of the plastic cone as lay on his back
John Waterman, who witnessed the unusual incident, said at the time in 2013: ‘I came out of Burger King and this man had the bollard stuck on his head.
‘I had seen him walking with it on top of his head five minutes earlier, but now it was pulled right down.
‘No-one was helping him because they thought he was just messing around.’
‘It took his friend and a policeman to get him out. It needed a good heave and his back was badly scratched afterwards.
‘The police officer find it very amusing and was chuckling to himself, it was probably one of his more light-hearted call outs!’
The retired teacher locked in a bowling club bathroom
David Leggat spent almost four days trapped inside a lawn bowling club toilet after the door handle fell off and the door got stuck
A retired school teacher found himself locked in a lawn bowling club’s toilet for nearly four days, without food or a mobile phone after the handle fell off.
David Leggat realised he was locked in the toilet of the club near Aberdeen, in Scotland, after the door to the tiny room got stuck.
The then 55-year-old then spent almost four days in the toilet while facing freezing temperatures before he was rescued by a cleaner.
The retired teacher kept himself warm by dipping his feet in hot water, but only managed to get three hours of sleep each night due to the winter cold.
The cleaning lady said the teacher looked grey when he emerged from the toilet, even as Mr Leggat himself remained in good spirits.
‘At least there was a toilet to use,’ he said. ‘The only thing I regret is not getting trapped behind the bar.’
The curious child who crawled into an arcade machine
Natalie Draper, 37, found her three-year-old son Noah locked in an arcade machine at an indoor play centre
Having left her three-year-old son alone for just a few minutes, Natalie Draper turned around to see him stuck inside an arcade machine.
The 37-year-old mother-of-three had taken her son, Noah, to an indoor play centre in Mansfield Nottinghamshire.
But after leaving the young boy with a friend to take his twin brother to the toilet, she returned to find him trapped inside the machine.
Ms Draper was alerted to the situation by a woman who asked her if ‘that was her son in the machine’.
She soon found out her son had climbed into the machine to try and get a teddy of his own.
Just ten minutes later, Noah had been freed. In the meantime, three padlocks had been broken and an ‘out-of-order’ sign had been placed on the claw machine.
Due to the fact the machine was operated by a third-party, staff were forced to break the padlocks sing a screwdriver before freeing the three-year-old boy.
The mother-of-three stumbled across the ‘terrifying’ situation after coming back from the toilet
The youngster was freed after staff broke three padlocks on the claw grabber machine
Ms Draper previously described the incident as the ‘most terrifying 10 minutes’ of her life.
‘I had taken my sons out to an indoor play centre to keep them entertained for the morning, but I never expected this to happen,’ the mother said.
‘I had taken his brother, Joel, to the toilet and left Noah playing with his friend for a matter of minutes.
‘But when I came back, a lady grabbed me and asked if ‘that was my child in there’ – to which I replied, ‘in where?’
‘As soon as she said ‘the machine’ I rushed over to take a look and could see Noah had climbed into the crane and got himself stuck!
‘Thankfully the team got him out within ten minutes, and now that I know he is safe and unharmed, I can’t stop laughing at what happened.’
The jogger who tried jumping a fence
Sam Hutchinson, 24, (pictured) got his leg stuck in a fence near his home in Acomb, Yorkshire
Sam Hutchinson, 24, was jogging near his home in Acomb, Yorkshire when he tried to jump over a three foot tall fence.
The unlucky runner’s attempt to hurdle to barrier, however, ended in disaster after Mr Hutchinson slipped and got his knee stuck between two metal bars.
The jogger, who was training to build stamina for MMA fighting, was trapped for more than an hour as he struggled to get free.
The 24-year-old had started his run at lunchtime, having only recently started training.
Mr Hutchinson was freed by the fire brigade after spending an hour with his leg wedged between the two metal bars
The 24-year-old was able to find humour in his predicament as he posted updates on Snapchat
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Mr Hutchinson said: ‘I saw this yellow fence that I thought I could jump over.
I went for the jump, slipped and my knee just got stuck in the fence. It was more slippery than I expected.’
‘I think everyone who saw me had a good laugh,’ he added.
Mr Hutchinson was, however, able to find humour in his predicament while also managing to Snapchat the entire ordeal.
The fire brigade later arrived to free the fitness enthusiast using heavy equipment after a passerby attempted to free him using a crowbar.
His Snapchat posts showed a picture of a fire engine with the caption ‘Thanks firemen’.
The smoker who tried to retrieve his lighter from a hole
An unidentified man got stuck in an 18-inch hole in the pavement in Swansea, Wales after dropping his lighter as a crowd of up to 100 onlookers watched and laughed
Having dropped his lighter down an 18 inch wide hole in the pavement, it seemed like a good idea to climb in and get.
However, the unidentified man in Swansea, Wales quickly found himself wedged in the hole, unable to get out.
The hole had been dug out by builders in order to install a lamp post in the pavement.
A crowd of up to 100 onlookers soon gathered around the stuck man as a few passersby even tried to pull the man in his 20s out.
He was eventually saved by firemen as local shoppers laughed at him for more than two hours.
At the time, local builder Gareth Gughes, 29, said: ‘He was wedged in so tight we’d have pulled his arms out of their sockets if we’d pulled any harder.’
‘He was stuck fast, right up to his chest. We were all standing around this unfortunate man having a right old laugh.
‘The man said he’d gone in feet first to retrieve a lighter he’d dropped in the hole and got stuck.
‘God knows how he even managed to squeeze in the hole because it was less than 40cm in diameter.
‘Once the firemen arrived, they strapped a rope beneath his armpits and winched him out.’
The stuck man later walked away from the scene without serious injury after being saved.
The former mayor who dearly regrets taking a shortcut
From Tuesday through to Saturday, Mr Cummins was stuck there with no food and water as temperatures dipped below zero. His only solace was prayer as he weakly called for help.
Former mayor Chris Cummins found himself trapped for five days between a fence and a wall running behind Redbridge FC’s Oakside Stadium, while taking a shortcut on a walk to the train station.
In his bid to avoid walking down a hill, the 75-year-old tried to squeeze through a wire fence behind the non-league club’s stadium.
But after attempting to crawl underneath a pipe, he found himself trapped, face down, without food or water – in a terrifying situation that lasted for five days.
The ex-mayorof Redbridge, in east London, was stuck from Tuesday through to Saturday, as temperatures at night dipped below zero, before the football club’s manager and three of his colleagues came to his aid.
Club manager Richard ‘Ricky’ Eaton gave the 75-year-old water through a straw as an air ambulance, paramedics, and fireman rushed to the scene to set him free.
The situation happened after Mr Cummins tried to take a shortcut between his home in Wanstead and Barkingside Tube Station, which sits just 50 feet behind the stadium’s clubhouse.
Mr Cummins’ ordeal began in February when he tried to squeeze through a wire fence at the back of non-league Redbridge FC’s Oakside Stadium
The former mayor escaped remarkably unscathed as the multiple toe amputation was for a previously undiagnosed issue. He was due to return home yesterday, now using a walking frame
The shortcut saw him forced to edge through a narrow gap that lay between the clubhouse wall and a sturdy wire fence.
‘I had to edge along sideways,’ Mr Cummins said. ‘Then I started crawling. But then I came to some sort of pipe low down. When I tried to crawl under it, I got stuck and couldn’t move.’
However, he soon found himself stuck, without food or water and without his mobile phone.
‘While I was lying down, on my front but slightly to one side, all I could do was shout for help – ‘Help, I’m stuck, and I’ve lost my mobile’ – and pray,’ the former mayor said.
All the while, he could hear people’s voices and announcements from the nearby train station.
Mr Cummins was however freed and his since made a remarkable recovery, having left the situation relatively unscathed.
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