The mum of a West Hill toddler, who was rescued by firefighters after getting a toilet seat stuck around his neck, has been forced to defend her actions in dialling 999.

Two-year-old Micky Chown, who is being potty trained, made headlines this week when his mum, Michaela, called the emergency services after trying in vain to free him from his ‘toilet seat necklace’.

Mum-of-seven Michaela thanked the six firefighters from Ottery for rescuing her son, who was unscathed by the incident on Saturday night.

But she has hit back at those who have criticised her actions, and thinks that if there is a non-emergency number to dial for the fire service, it should be more readily available.

Michaela said: “I did what I thought was best.

“We thought the risk of taking the seat off ourselves outweighed the benefits, and we would never have wanted to hurt our son.

“For anybody who says it can come off the way it went on, it cannot. We tried lubricants, and put him in the bath and tried soap, but nothing was working.”

Speaking out about why she called the fire service, Michaela said: “They put you on the spot. I was put through to the call handler and she put me through to the fire service.

“I was completely and utterly mortified that the fire engine arrived.

“It was an embarrassing situation.”

Michaela says most comments she has received have been very understanding, but the family have come up against some negative responses posted online.

“It is a real shame, we were not expecting it to go to these proportions,” said Michaela.

“My first reaction was disappointment that people are like that.

“Nobody was injured and it was just one of those things. At the end of the day, my children are paramount to me.”

She added: “It has made me feel vulnerable because my address was out there and I was upset about that because it is a small village.”

Ottery’s station commander, Gary Shaw, attended the incident with his crew.

The team were able to lift the padding on the seat and used a screwdriver to free it from Micky’s neck.

Commander Shaw said: “We treat everything as an emergency. All calls are important to us.”