A man who turned up at hospital with a ring stuck on his penis had to be cut free by 10 firefighters, according to data released by the London fire brigade.

It took firefighters 20 minutes to remove the ring after staff at Queen Elizabeth hospital, Woolwich, were unable to prise it from the man's genitals.

Two fire engines were dispatched to perform the delicate procedure, which took place in May this year.

It was just one of three incidents in which firefighters were called to remove a ring stuck on a penis between April 2010 to May 2011, records show.

The disclosure is one of 417 incidents attended by London's firefighters involving people stuck in objects, machinery and furniture – not including road traffic accidents.

One man became stuck in a child's toy car in Kingston-upon-Thames, in Bromley a youth got wedged in an ironing board, and in Barking a person got their fingers stuck in a DVD player. Several children were attended to with toilet seats and potties stuck on their heads while 36 people had to be freed from handcuffs.

The removal of rings from fingers accounted for 160 incidents, while 74 people had "other" objects removed. Some 133 people had become trapped in or under machinery or other objects, and 14 people were impaled.

Dave Brown, the brigade's assistant commissioner for operations and mobilising, said: "You wouldn't believe some of the incidents we're called to deal with – people manage to get themselves trapped in some very weird and wonderful places – but there is a serious side to this.

"These incidents are time-consuming, costly and take up the precious time of our crews who are then unavailable to attend other, potentially life-threatening, emergencies.

"We'd ask the public to take greater care to avoid getting themselves into these often ridiculous situations, and to think carefully before dialling 999 and calling us out if there isn't an emergency."