Tyre fitters come to the rescue as man's leg drops off

Pete Fletcher knew exactly where to turn to when his false leg fell off while shopping. He hopped to the nearest tyre centre. And the lads at Cannock’s National Tyres patched him up with the same skill, and speed, they use when replacing a bald radial on a Ford Escort. What’s more, they did it using an inner tube.

Pete’s artificial leg is held in place by suction. But as the 43-year-old walked round Carol’s Discount store, in Cannock, with his wife Kerrie, 42, he told her: “My leg’s starting to come off.” Pete, from Bradbury Lane, Hednesford, says he can only describe the sensation as like walking with wellies - but you know when they’re too big.

The special suction sleeve at the top of the cast had worn - and tiny holes were allowing air to get in. In desperation Pete struggled into the nearby tyre centre at 12.30pm and asked for help. He didn’t really know how they could help - and neither did the stunned staff at first.



The four guys at the tyre centre got their heads together and came up with a solution - a kind of puncture repair kit for the false limb. They tried one method, which didn’t work - then in desperation went to Carol’s store to buy superglue.

Joe Allison, aged 19, then carried out the airtight repair on the inside of the sleeve - using a combination of a piece of inner tube and superglue. Pete was like any other customer waiting for his repair to take place - except he had to sit next to his leg in the waiting room.

He had some explaining to do to bemused customers. His wife said: “I just laughed. It could have been in a comedy sketch.”