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Richard Coles: Caught-short celebrity vicar 'freed by Twitter'

BBC/Duncan Stingemore The Reverend Richard ColesBBC/Duncan Stingemore
The Reverend Richard Coles asked his Twitter followers to help when a door handle broke

More than 2,000 people rallied to a cry for help from former pop star-turned-vicar the Reverend Richard Coles after he announced he was "trapped" in a room and needed the loo.

Mr Coles, keyboard player in 80s band The Communards and now vicar of Finedon, Northamptonshire, said on Twitter the door handle was broken.

"I am trapped in my bedroom, I have had to pee in an ornament," he wrote.

Hundreds suggested how he might get out and he said he was "freed by 9am".

Mr Coles said on social media on Saturday morning he was staying at a friend's house in Edinburgh when he realised he could not get out of his bedroom as "the door handle just goes round and round and does not move the latch".

As he did not wish to wake his host, he had been forced to improvise when he needed to use the lavatory.

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The former pop star, and presenter of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live programme, asked his 190,000 Twitter followers for advice.

While many made light of his dilemma, others were quick to offer help.

"Use your multitool to retighten the grubscrew, or remove the doorknob and use the pliers on the multitool to turn the shaft," wrote one.

"No multitool," the vicar replied.

Richard Coles Jug on shelfRichard Coles
The vicar tweeted a picture of the ornament he had been forced to use

Mr Coles even looked up a solution online, but said: "YouTube has been less than helpful, requiring heavy-duty paper clips and a PhD in engineering. And now there is a wasp in the room."

The vicar confirmed later he had been freed when his host "sprang me from the other side".

He added: "In a fit of conscience I told my host that I had to pee in his jug because I was trapped in my room this morning (due to his poor maintenance of the door handle).

"He now wants the jug destroyed rather than just thoroughly washed.

"I think this is an overreaction."

Mr Coles said he had "deployed powerful technology (a shoe in the door) to mitigate the risk of getting trapped in my room again".

Richard Coles Shoe in doorRichard Coles
The vicar said he had found a way to stop the problem happening again