Suffolk PoliceYou’ve heard the one about the cat stuck up a tree, right? What about the one where the firefighters have to rescue a grown man who got stuck in a kid’s swing, for hours.
Sounds just like your bog standard Tuesday evening at the park, to be honest.
Don’t think so? Well, this adult human lived this very terribly embarrassing nightmare while whiling away the hours hanging out – ahem – on the local rec.
Suffolk PoliceThe 20-year-old had been firmly wedged in the child-sized seat for three hours before police were called to Landseer Park in Ipswich at 07:50 BST, reports BBC.
Well, obviously, you’d have to get in there pretty snugly so you don’t fall out when you’re doing swing tricks.
A Suffolk police community support officer, PCSO Sermons, quickly realised the man – who complained he’d been in there for three hours – was definitely stuck.
Suffolk PoliceBut when a ‘shove and pull’ method of swing-release failed, the poor guy realised he was well and truly stuck and the fire service had to lend a hand – and a trusty screwdriver.
The swing was taken apart by the professionals and the ‘grateful but embarrassed’ grown-up was freed.
He remains unharmed.
Tonight we are with the #Nayland #OnCall crew during their #drillnight where we are filming for our forthcoming recruitment video. #training is in full swing and so are the cameras #999family pic.twitter.com/VIU6eKv3SU
— Suffolk Fire & Rescue Service (@SuffolkFire) May 24, 2018
After taking the swing to pieces and releasing the man, crews from Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service put it back together so it could be safely used by someone of the right size.
…And they all lived happily ever after.
…And then they shared it on Twitter:
First SNT job of the day, young male trapped in swing! Job for @SuffolkFire No injuries, no damage to swing but a very grateful & embarrassed male! pic.twitter.com/b2MZCBFbir
— Ipswich East Police (@IpsEastPolice) May 23, 2018
Someone in charge of the @IpsEastPolice shared this message of hope:
First SNT job of the day, young male trapped in swing! Job for @SuffolkFire
No injuries, no damage to swing but a very grateful & embarrassed male! [sic]
They also offered this handy advice with the crying laughing emoji: Always use age appropriate play equipment.
Suffolk PoliceThe story has gone viral online, and it seems the Internet Jury are divided over the playful dude’s actions.
While most of us can see the funny side, some pointed out it was a bit of a waste of firefighter resources.
To be fair to the guy, it’s not like he intended to get stuck.
Suffolk PoliceYet, Roxanne Reynolds wrote on Facebook:
Dumb move dude…what a waste of valuable resources…sincerely hope there one day will be fines to pay for wasting emergency services time for someone else’s avoidable stupidity.
The emergency services didn’t seem to mind.
Always use age appropriate play equipment ?
— Ipswich East Police (@IpsEastPolice) May 23, 2018
But Hulaimatu Connor chimed in on the comments section, saying:
It serves him right. The swings weren’t built for a grown man and it is a waste to the emergency resources.
Could’ve been worse, mate. You could’ve been one of these people:
At least his embarrassment wasn’t caught on camera…After all, two dimensional pictures can’t quite capture shame like moving, real time footage. Imagine him trying to wiggle out.
A bigger fail than these PhotoShop nightmares.
Same can’t be said for these guys:
Swings and roundabouts, right? Ahem.
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A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.