A man, who fell asleep in a Birmingham skip, has escaped after almost being crushed to death in the back of a bin lorry.
The unnamed man had climbed into the skip during the night in the Edgbaston Street area. He awoke only after the skip was tipped into the hydraulic crusher of the lorry.
Finding himself in complete darkness, and with the walls, floor and roof moving in, he scrambled for his mobile phone and hastily dialled 999.
“Help, help. Someone is trying to kill me, I’m being crushed,” he screamed at the emergency operator.
Police immediately set off to track down the caller who had no idea where he was.
Meanwhile, back at the Montague Street depot in Aston, refuse collectors had noticed banging noises coming from inside the crusher and had also called the police. Putting two and two together, Birmingham’s finest tracked down the lorry and brought out the fire and ambulance services.
Fire crews managed to free the man after digging around in the rotting waste. He suffered only minor injuries but was badly shocked.
Highgate Fire Station Officer, Andy Burnham, described the man as “…an extremely lucky guy.”
He continued, “The other people we can remember in incidents like this have not been quite so lucky. Most people stuck in these lorries, while they are compacting, receive very serious injuries and it’s difficult to get them out.”
The man, in his 20s and believed to be of Eastern European origin, had been in a state of panic when he made his call. Once tracked down, he was attended to by the police, two fire crews, and an ambulance.
Mr Burnham said, “We managed to reverse the crushing process back at the depot and with a bit of exploration and digging around in the rubbish, the man was
helped out.”
“I think he has certainly learnt a few new English phrases after his experience.” He added.
“Mobile phone?” You might be asking. Very high class tramps in Birmingham, or what? And what does Mr Burnham mean, “The other people we can remember in incidents like this…” How often does this sort of thing happen? More often than you might think, apparently. In the same month comes this story from Lancashire…
Another unnamed man became trapped inside a large compactor skip after climbing inside. The skip, behind Lothian house off the Preston Ring Way, was locked for the night with its visitor still inside.
Police and fire fighters were called to the scene after the man made a panicked call from his mobile phone. He was rescued at around 8:15pm, uninjured, but very shaken having spent over an hour stuck inside.
Fire crews had used metal cutting equipment normally reserved to free people from car wrecks. They had removed the skip from its cradle and forced it open to let the man out.
A fire service spokesman said, “He was very lucky the compactor was not switched on or he could have been seriously injured.”
He continued, “People should steer clear.”
Wise words, mate!