BLACK cats are meant to be lucky but that was the last thing poor Tiddles felt when he got his head jammed in a door.

The pet became trapped as he was being let in through the front door at home in Coniston Avenue, Whitefield, and prompted a call to the fire service.

Tiddles' owner, David Lyon (23) said: "My girlfriend's brother, Richard opened the door to let Tiddles in and somehow he got his head wedged inside and his body was outside. We couldn't open the door. The cat started panicking and squealing. He was obviously in discomfort so we called the fire service."

A fire crew from Whitefield arrived within minutes of the call at 9pm on Wednesday and cut away the door casing to free Tiddles, but not before he clawed at Richard's thumb and tried to bite one of the firemen.

David's girlfriend, Hollie Earwicker (19), added: "It was awful. I couldn't watch. Tiddles was making so much noise, but he is a softy really. The firemen cut the door casing and slid Tiddles up until he was free. We can't thank them enough for coming so quickly."

David added: "Luckily, Tiddles is fine. We were all baffled as to how he managed to get stuck. He could have really hurt himself if he hadn't been wearing a collar."