Toddler traps finger in model train track

[John Ashworth]

Toddler traps finger in model train track

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
Borough: Bury
Incident Date: 20 June 2012

A TODDLER in Tottington received a special visit from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) after he trapped his finger in a model railway track.

Blake Kennett-Jones was playing with the toy train set when he got into difficulties.

Mum Rayne Kennett panicked and after calling family members to ask for help, decided to call the fire service.

A crew from Bury Fire Station went to the house in Sycamore Road just after midday on Sunday, June 17 after initially believing the boy was at a real railway track.

Crew Manager Carl Bostock said: "The incident came over the radio as a boy with his hand trapped in a railway track and we thought it was going to be serious. But then control phoned us to explain that it was a model train track, not a real one.

"When we arrived the three-year-old-boy was in his mother's arms, heartbroken and when he saw us he cried even more!"

Mum Rayne said: "I was in the bath and Blake was playing with the trains next to the door then he just came to me with the wooden track stuck on his finger. I tried to get it off with the soapy water in the bath but it started turning blue.

"I jumped out of the bath and rang my sister and her husband who came down with a massive saw but it was too big. We tried washing up liquid but that didn't work.

"The firefighters tried washing up liquid too and that didn't work so they asked us to go into the fire engine and used a little saw and pliers to get it off. I was scared because I thought it was going to cut him. I was shaking and Blake was screaming but the crew were brilliant.

"They offered Blake the chance to have a look around the fire engine and try on a helmet afterwards but he was too upset at the time. But they were great with him."

Crew Manager Bostock added: "He stayed in his mother's arms whilst Firefighter Anthony Dwyer slowly and delicately did the sawing whilst I reassured Blake he would be fine.

"Slowly we cut through the wooden Brio track until we could nibble the wood away enough for it to come free. The relief on the little boy's face was worth everything - he thanked us and his mother began to cry with thanks."

[John Ashworth]

While one can sympathise with a mother who gets panicky when she sees her toddler's finger turning blue, one has to question whether calling out a fire engine is a proportionate response. It's hard to believe that a household doesn't have any tools which can be used to cut a simple wooden toy (two households, in fact, as her sister and brother-in-law also came over). As one of my British colleagues just said with heavy irony, "Makes you proud to be British, doesn't it..."

[Adrian Hill]

As Douglas Adams said in the Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy: Don't Panic

It is astounding that people are unable to handle such a silly situation, what would they have don't if the child had a bleeding droken leg....

[Derek Walker]

I bet lots of lawyers are rubbing their hands together, and now the makers of the track are going to have to fix warning labels and stickers and a commission will be formed in Brussels to look into the dangers of toy tracks.