A British butcher who got locked in a freezer when the door was blown shut has managed to break free thanks to a frozen sausage that he used as a battering ram.

Chris McCabe says he panicked because the freezer was -20 degrees Celsius and the safety button had frozen over.

"I thought well the next best thing is I'm going to kick it. And I tried kicking it two or three times and it wouldn't go," Mr McCabe said.

"I was beginning to feel pretty frightened, a bit panicky and very cold because behind me is this blower, at -20 [degrees], blowing cold air straight at me.

He decided to look to his surroundings for a way to break the ice covering the safety button which would free him.

"First of all, I picked up a rabbit, but that was no good; then a box of bones, they're no good. There are some pigeons, they're no good. A guinea fowl. That was no good. And then I suddenly saw a stick of black pudding, the last one."

"I picked up this black pudding, which was solid and I was able … to give it two or three good bangs and finally I broke the ice."

The door opened, and he was able to return to the warmth of the shop in Totnes, south-west England.

The grateful butcher told the BBC: "No-one could hear me banging. Black pudding saved my life."

ABC/APTN