A man who was sleeping in a large rubbish bin had a lucky escape after he was scooped up into the back of a bin wagon.

It's believed he was at the very bottom of a bin full of cardboard and had gone unnoticed until he was trapped at the back of the wagon.

Firefighters were called out to the rear of a property in Upton Street, off Murray Road at 6.50am this morning.

Crew manager Simon Rodger, of Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, said: "A gentleman that had been asleep in a large rubbish bin got tipped into the actual wagon.

"We can only assume he was asleep at the very bottom because the workers had checked there was nobody in the bin because it was full of cardboard.

"He's been tipped into the back of the wagon and the wagon itself has scooped him right into the heart of the machine."

He had got caught up in the hydraulic plate which pushes the rubbish to the back of the wagon.

"He was literally scooped up and pushed to the back.

"The operator had heard banging and realised somebody was in there, therefore called us out," said Mr Rodger.

"He was trapped in the machine but he was completely unhurt. When they released the crusher he walked out unharmed."

The crew took no action but were on hand in case assistance was required.

A spokesman for Allerdale council said the man was lucky not to have been injured or killed.

They added: "While our contractors do check every bin, it would appear that this man was hidden by the cardboard inside.

"We shall be working closely with our contractors to ascertain exactly what happened."

Paul Stokes, head of safety, health, environment and quality at FCC Environment, added: “FCC Environment takes health and safety very seriously and is conducting its own internal investigation, into the circumstances surrounding the incident."

The Health and Safety Executive has been informed.