WHEN Catherine Simpson was looking for interesting things to scan on the family PC at her home on Valley view Drive, Ipswich, her brother Thomas mischievously suggested she try her face.

WHEN Catherine Simpson was looking for interesting things to scan on the family PC at her home on Valley view Drive, Ipswich, her brother Thomas mischievously suggested she try her face.

The 11-year-old might have avoided the resulting embarrassment had her scanner been of the traditional flat-bed type, but it was one which rolls over the subject and the girl's top lip was soon severely stuck between the rollers.

Mother Sally, said: "The two of them were on the computer and wanted to scan something. Thomas said to her why don't you try your lip and that is when I heard the scream. I went through to the study and Catherine was standing there with the scanner hanging off her lip. I really did not know what to do."

Sub-officer Dave Edwards, part of the four-man fire crew from Ipswich called out, said that, although it seemed like a trifle matter, they took the call very seriously.

He added: "The girl was in a lot of pain when we got there and her mother must have tried to get it off a few times so she was probably quite worried."