I tried to move my sofa alone because I ‘didn’t need a man’ to help me – but I got pinned underneath it and firefighters had to rescue me 

• Sara, 30, from Essex, is warning others DIYers to learn from her scary ordeal
• READ MORE: DIY fails prove you sometimes just need to pay a professional

A woman who said she ‘didn’t need no man’ to manoeuvre her sofa down the stairs  was forced to call 999 after becoming trapped underneath it

Sara Aziz, 30, from Colchester, Essex, put her ‘girl power’ to the test when she attempted to single-handedly shift a couch from her first-floor lounge down the stairs of her maisonette.

The office PA was preparing the ‘eyesore’ settee for a skip collection the following week, and so donned her favourite pair of silver glitter Crocs for comfort during the Herculean task.

Due to the tight space, the grey fabric sofa became wedged between the banister and wall, forcing Sara to shimmy under it to wriggle it free. As fate would have it, Sara slipped and fell backwards, where she became lodged underneath the sofa for 90 minutes.

She explained: ‘I got a new sofa so that’s why I was getting rid of the old one.

Sara Aziz (pictured), 30, from, Essex – who said she ‘didn’t need no man’ to manoeuvre her sofa down the stairs – was forced to call 999 after becoming trapped underneath it (Pictured: Sara wearing her silver Crocs while standing next to the sofa she was pinned under)

Firefighters (pictured) were forced to rescue her after she single-handedly tried to shift a couch from her first-floor lounge down the stairs of her maisonette

At one point, the singleton contacted her family for help – but her father was busy shopping in Tesco

‘It was an L-shaped three-seater and I was moving it because it was sitting in my living room for a month and it’s just been an eyesore.

‘I was wearing my silver glittery Crocs at the time, they’re one of my favourite kinds of shoes to wear. I go everywhere in these they’re like my staple shoes because they’re so comfy.

‘I thought “You know what? I can do this, I’m an adult, I don’t need no man, girl power” kind of thing’.

Upon lifting the three-seater she got the shock of her life when she realised ‘it was quite heavy’. 

But a determined Sara powered through, telling herself ‘I have got this’ – and further pressed on for another 20 minutes.

‘I managed to get it out of the living room door and I was about half-way down the stairs [when] it was wedged between the walls’ Sara recalled.

‘I shimmied underneath it to try and angle it a little bit better and that’s when I just went.

‘One minute I was up and the next minute I was down. I fell on my back, which hurt, and because the sofa was too low down I couldn’t get back up again’.

Sara says of the dramatic event that she ‘fell on her back, which hurt, and because the sofa was too low down she couldn’t get back up again’

She sent a furious WhatsApp message to her sisters when nobody came to help for an entire hour 

She also donned her favourite pair of silver glitter Crocs (pictured) for comfort during the Herculean task. However she is now warning others to wear more appropriate footwear when doing DIY

The damsel in distress frantically texted and called family members using her phone that was tucked into her bra, but to her dismay, her dad was busy completing his daily shopping in Tesco.

After waiting more than an hour for someone to come to her aid, a red-faced Sara called 999 who dispatched an ambulance and fire crew to help.

She added: ‘I had my phone in my bra, which I was so happy about.

‘I rang my father and my sister. My father said “yeah I’m on my way”, an hour passed and I was like “where the hell is he?” He was doing his daily shopping in Tesco.

‘I was like “what do I do?” I had to do the most embarrassing thing in the world and call the fire brigade, I was stuck for 90 minutes.

‘The firemen were very handsome but I was lying there looking like a slug so I don’t think I looked as good’.

Within minutes of the fire crew arriving, they managed to free her.

The rescuers were forced to use a saw to cut the ends off and finally free her. And after being assessed by medics – apart from a bruise on her chest – Sara was perfectly fine. 

Sara was moving the ‘eyesore’ settee (pictured) in preparation for a skip collection the following week

This staircase sets the scene for where the dramatic turn of events unfolded – which had Sara trapped for over an hour

The second-hand sofa, picked up on Facebook last year, is now chopped up in Sara’s garden awaiting a skip collection

She then scrambled up the stairs and snapped them dismantling the sofa as proof to her disbelieving sister. 

‘It was quite frightening to be pinned under the sofa, that’s why I had a little panic attack’ she continued.

‘I was worried I’d be stuck there indefinitely, so I was relieved [when they arrived].

‘When they lifted the sofa off me I walked back up the stairs so they could get rid of the sofa.

‘I took the picture of the fireman on the stairs as I knew my sisters wouldn’t believe it – and I thought he was quite handsome.

‘You couldn’t make my life up’.

The second-hand sofa, picked up on Facebook last year, is now chopped up in Sara’s garden awaiting skip collection 

Looking back on the bizarre event, Sara recounts: ‘It was the most embarrassing situation of my life. The fire brigade were at my house to lift a sofa off me when they should be putting out fires’.

An Essex County Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: ‘One crew from Colchester attended and reported that a woman had been carrying a sofa down the stairs when she slipped backwards and was pinned by the sofa.

‘Crews worked to dismantle the sofa using small tools and rescued the woman by 4:26pm’.

Crew Manager Dennis Campion from Colchester Fire Station said: ‘The team worked quickly to dismantle the sofa and help the woman back on her feet.

‘We’re glad she was ok and we wish her a speedy recovery’.

Now, the retired DIYer – who still wears her beloved Crocs daily – is warning others to learn from the incident, and to never try and lift heavy furniture alone.

She also suggested wearing sturdy footwear while carrying heavy items.

Crocs and East of England Ambulance Services have been contacted for comment.

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