Butcher batters his way out of freezer with 12in black pudding

Locked-in Chris saved from chilling fate

A BUTCHER facing death after getting locked in a freezer saved his own life by smashing his way out – with a frozen black pudding.

Quick-thinking Chris Mccabe, 70, knew that with a temperature of -20C inside the walk-in unit he had less than half an hour to live.

A breeze had blown the door shut after he went in and to his horror he found the inner release button was frozen solid.

There was nothing to de-ice it so he frantically hunted for a heavy object to help him break out.

But the sides of lamb and beef he found in the freezer were too big to wield properly and Chris admitted that he nearly gave up all hope. Then he spotted his last black pudding – a 12in-long monster weighing 3lb 5oz.

“I swung it like police use battering rams to break doors down and it worked on the third go, when the lock eventually gave way,” he said.

“It was absolutely the best thing to use for hitting the emergency release button as it was the right shape and solid, so I could get plenty weight behind it. I’m very lucky because we sell about two or three black puddings a week and that was our last one.”

Black pudding – a type of blood sausage – is considered to be a delicacy in many areas of Britain. It is usually fried, grilled, baked or boiled and served at breakfast.

Chris buys his supplies of them direct from the Queen’s butcher, HM Sheridan of Ballater in Aberdeenshire.

He said meat takes just 30 minutes to freeze solid in the room-size cold store outside his butcher’s shop in Totnes, Devon – and that was the maximum time the dad of four thought he could survive in there.

“Nobody could hear me banging in the freezer because it’s round the back of the shop,” he added.

“Black pudding saved my life, without any doubt at all.”

OFF HOOK Chris at shop