Stuck in "weird and wonderful places"

In 2010, London Firefighters attended 417 incidents where they freed people or body parts trapped in household objects, furniture and machines– not including road traffic accidents.

Among the cases documented were the removal of handcuffs from 36 people, the removal of rings from the fingers of 160 people and the removal of "other" objects from 74 people.

Firefighters also saved 14 people who had become impaled, a woman who had her foot glued to the floor, a child with its head stuck in a tambourine, several people with their hands stuck in letterboxes or shredders, and several children with toilet seats and potties stuck on their heads or round their necks.

"You wouldn't believe some of the incidents we're called to deal with," Dave Brown, the Brigade's Assistant Commissioner for Operations and Mobilising, said in a statement.

"People manage to get themselves trapped in some very weird and wonderful places but there is a serious side to this. We'd ask the public to take greater care to avoid getting themselves into these often ridiculous situations."

London Fire Brigade issued a warning to take care and avoid getting stuck in "weird and wonderful places" such as letter boxes, toilet seats and playground swings, following the incident in which a student got her head trapped in a clothes airing rack.