Story By: James King, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Real Press

German cops thought it was a prank call when a man called emergency services and claimed he was locked in a hearse at the local cemetery and urgently needed to go to the toilet.

But when they turned up they discovered there was indeed a hearse parked in the cemetery and after checking the vehicle realised there was someone alive trapped in the back.

Opening the vehicle they then freed the driver who admitted he had decided to have a nap in the back of the hearse where the coffin usually goes, unaware that it was not possible to open it from the inside.

The incident happened at the cemetery in Munden-Lutterberg which is in the district of Gottingen in central Germany.

A police spokesman said they had never had a similar call and attempted to treat it as a joke but in the end they had to respond to the emergency call, and were shocked when it turned out to be genuine.

He said: “The driver who worked for a funeral company had been travelling from Hamburg to Frankfurt when he suddenly became very tired as he was driving along the A7 motorway.”

He said that as a result, the 51-year-old driver who was not named had driven off the motorway and started to look for a quiet place for sleep.

He added: “He realised there was probably nowhere better to park than the very quiet cemetery, and therefore he decided to park up there.”

He thought it would be more comfortable lying flat in the back, but was unaware until he woke up wanting to go to the toilet that it could not be open from the inside.

Because he was desperately in need of going to the toilet, he had made an emergency phone call to the police, and was eventually freed.

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