RED-FACED Shaun Morrisey had to be rescued by the fire brigade after getting trapped - in an umbrella.

Firefighters used bolt-cutters to take the brolly to bits after it refused to budge, before gently extracting the 11-year-old from its mechanism.

In a freak accident, Shaun got the webbing between his forefinger and thumb caught between the sliding collar and the umbrella's central pole while he was putting it up at a friend's house in Marsden Hall Road, Nelson.

Despite desperate efforts, Shaun, of Edward Street, Nelson, could not be freed from the fishing umbrella and, eventually, the fire brigade and ambulance were called to rescue him.

Sub-officer Gary Ibbitson, of Nelson fire station, said: "It must be one of the most unusual rescues we've ever done. The lad had got himself well and truly stuck. They'd tried all sorts to get him out and eventually they called us.

"He was in pain every time we tried to move the collar, so the paramedics gave him some gas and air to make things a bit easier for him.

"We used bolt-cutters to cut the stays of the umbrella and then gently twisted the collar up the pole to free him. The amazing thing was that, although he was a bit sore, it didn't even break his skin."

Shaun, a pupil at Castercliff Primary School, Nelson, said: "My friend had only just got the umbrella that day and we were out in the garden looking at it when it happened. I feel all right now, but my hand is still a bit sore."

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