Britain’s biggest fire service today told of its most bizarre call-outs – including rescuing a man who got his manhood caught in a TOASTER.
London Fire Brigade has spent almost £400,000 in three years answering 1,300 calls from people trapped or stuck in everyday household items.
They include one boy who had a tambourine jammed on his head and other children stuck in potties and toilet seats.
More embarrassingly, one man had to be rescued when his willy got painfully stuck in a vacuum cleaner.
And there has been a rise in 999 calls from people stuck in handcuffs during kinky sex – a trend blamed on Fifty Shades of Grey.
But with each response costing at least £290 senior officers are asking people to think twice before getting themselves stuck.
London Fire Service’s 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 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.”
The call-outs also included over 500 people who had rings jammed on their fingers and 18 children whose heads were stuck in toilet seats or potties.
There were also 79 being caught in handcuffs, one lad who got Lego stuck on his finger, and a man with his arm jammed in a Portaloo.
Jonathan Isaby, Political Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The emergency services are just that – for use when there is a true emergency.
“It is worrying that scarce resources are sometimes being called upon to deal with incidents that were completely avoidable.
“If people used a bit more common sense, some of these kinds of call-outs could be avoided altogether.
“The Fire Brigade must ensure that its response to calls is proportionate because in the past there have been occasions when unnecessarily large crews have been dispatched to deal with the non-emergency incidents that neither involved a fire nor threats to anyone’s life.
“Such waste is a burden on taxpayers and an unwanted distraction for firefighters.”
