A MAN got more than he bargained for when a prank gone wrong saw firefighters called to the rescued.
The unnamed victim, believed to be in his 20s, awoke after a night of drinking to find his friends had put a motorbike lock around his neck before loosing the keys.
Having tried the Canley Fire Station with no avail, the young man was escorted to the at the Radford Road fire station at around 7.30pm on Sunday, June 21 by his mother.
Speaking about the ‘unusual situation’, Coventry Fire Station Commander, Pete Drummond said: “I was in the station, giving a presentation to officers when we heard the doorbell.
“Minutes later the man in the picture entered.
“We couldn’t quote believe what we were seeing, but quickly started to work on getting him free.”
But officers were unable to cut through the high-security motorbike lock using their normal equipment – breaking a pair of reinforced pedal cutters used to rescue car crash victims in the process.
Commander Drummond added: “We then tried to use a pair of Rebar Cutters which are used to cut through concrete, but they made barely more than a dent in the lock.
“So then we moved on to Plan C.
“Having worked for the Specialist Technical Rescue Unit for over eight years, I knew what their equipment was capable of.”
Using specialist non-sparking equipment usually used to cut through railway tracks, the young man was eventually released approximately 4 hours after first becoming stuck.
But, the firefighter was also quick to note that this prank could have had a much more serious outcome.
He added: “Had the young man fallen asleep in such a way that his airway had become blocked, or had his neck swollen in the lock we could have been dealing with a fatality here.”
