A BOY playing Power Rangers with his friends had to be rescued from a drain in his school’s playground this week.

Ashley Wrigglesworth, five, was playing with friends during his lunch break at Selby Community Primary School in Flaxley Road on Monday, when he decided to see how deep a drain in the playground went, but became stuck up to his thigh and the fire service had to be called.

Toni, his mother, lives close to the school and said she was by her son’s side in about a minute after she received the call.

She said: “The school phoned and said not to worry about it but Ashley was stuck in the drains.

“He was happy when he saw me, and told me what happened. He looked scared and started crying and said he was cold, and a teacher got him an extra jacket and passed him some sweets as well.”

Ashley’s nine-year-old brother Michael was allowed out of his class to keep him company during the rescue, which saw the fire service prise up concrete flags to remove his leg from the pipe, in a rescue which took about 45 minutes.

His mother said: “The paramedic checked his foot over and there were no markings on it, it was just covered in mud and water.

“He wanted to go tell his big brother he was fine and the teachers told the rest of the classes not to play near the drains, so it taught them about safety.”

Toni said she was glad Ashley was uninjured and was not unhappy with the school, as it was “just one of those things”.

She said: “I just want to thank the firefighters and his teachers, they were very caring for him.”

Ian Clennan, headteacher at the school, said: “Drains around this area are secured by catches. Following the incident, a full check was carried out of drains on the school site. This was an isolated incident, but staff have spoken to children in the early years classes at the school to stress the importance of staying safe while playing”.