Butcher is 'saved by black pudding' after getting stuck in a freezer
11 January 2018, 17:18
A 70-year-old butcher who found himself trapped in a walk-in freezer managed to escape thanks to a frozen black pudding.
Chris McCabe revealed that he got stuck after the freezer door in his shop in Totnes, Devon, blew shut behind him.
Finding himself trapped in temperatures of -20C (-4F), and with the door-release button frozen shut, he cleverly used the 1.5kg sausage as a battering ram.
He said: "No-one could hear me banging. Black pudding saved my life."
McCabe thought at first that he "was OK because I could kick the safety button from inside", but "this time it was frozen solid".
Butcher Chris McCabe from Totnes shows how a black pudding saved his life when he became trapped in a deep freeze #blackpudding https://t.co/5feTkPo0Ho pic.twitter.com/5U9bSjzKQM
— Devon Live News (@DevonLiveNews) January 11, 2018
Temperatures that cold would usually kill a human in about an hour. The father-of-four searched for a tool to smash the button. Beef and lamb proved too slippery or too big, but the "best thing" was the sacred black pudding.
He said: "It was the right shape. I used it like the police use battering rams to break door locks in. It was solid, pointed and I could get plenty of weight behind it.
"I'm lucky really. We sell about two or three each week and that was the last one in there."
Lesson learned. Always keep a giant frozen black pudding handy.
