FIREMAN SAM BRAVE NEW RESCUES

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THE game was up for little Alfie Vargas when he got his hand stuck trying to reach a bouncy ball toy from a games machine.

The inquisitive toddler had to be rescued by firefighters when he shoved his hand up the chute where balls came out and couldn’t get it back out.

The three-year-old was chuffed to bits when his mum gave him a £1 to buy a bouncy ball from a machine in a cafe in Hartlepool.

Minutes later, however, he was squealing for help after trying to reach for the colourful balls himself.

A fire crew and ambulance rushed to his aid, at the West Quay, and it took them more than two hours to pull his tiny hand free.

Worried mum Sharon Parkin, 36, of Horden, Peterlee, County Durham, said: “Alfie went over to the ball machine with his cousin and had put his £1 coin in but a ball didn’t come out.

“So without me seeing, he quickly put his hand into the bit where the ball comes out and reached inside, but he got trapped.