An Aberdeenshire black pudding has proved a unlikely lifesaver for a butcher who got stuck in a giant freezer.
Chris McCabe feared for his life after finding himself locked in his walk-in store, where meat is kept at temperatures of -20C.
A gust of wind blew the door shut behind him – and then to his horror he found the inner door release button had frozen solid.
With time running out in a freezer capable of killing a man in just half an hour, he looked around for the best tool for the job and decided there was only one.
After he battered the lock several times with the frozen breakfast staple, it eventually gave way and he walked free.
The father-of-four from Totnes, Devon, said the black pudding – made by the Queen’s butcher HM Sheridan of Ballater – “saved my life, without a doubt”.
“No one could hear me banging because it is outside, round the back of the shop,” he said.
“The black pudding was the best thing to hit the button with because it was the right shape.
“I used it like the police use battering rams to break door locks in. It was solid, pointed and I could get plenty of weight behind it.
“I managed to get in a position to bash the button a few times until the ice broke and the door opened.”
Mr McCabe, 70, revealed he was fortunate that there were any left as the north-east-made delicacy was highly sought after by English food lovers.
“I’m lucky really, we sell about two or three each week and that was the last one in there.”
He said customers on the south coast definitely had a taste Ballater puddings.
“We have two types but they always ask for the Scottish one,” he said.
“It’s got more bite to it, it has more flavour and no lumps of fat in it. It’s very good.”