A POPULAR radio presenter had a lucky escape when a firework hit him in the face. On a weekend when the emergency services reported a low number of call outs, BBC Radio Suffolk breakfast presenter Mark Murphy, 43, was with his family in his Ipswich garden on Sunday evening when a firework misfired.

A POPULAR radio presenter had a lucky escape when a firework hit him in the face.

On a weekend when the emergency services reported a low number of call outs, BBC Radio Suffolk breakfast presenter Mark Murphy, 43, was with his family in his Ipswich garden on Sunday evening when a firework misfired.

He said: “I was just standing near the back door when a firework was going off at the bottom of the garden.

“I turned around and saw this fireball come towards my face. It was one of those fireworks that goes up in the air and then explodes but rather than go up in the air it shot sideways.

“It smashed me squarely in the lip and bounced off my face and exploded just a few feet away.

“What frightened me most of all was how quickly it happened. I had no chance of doing anything other than just standing there. I was very lucky not to lose an eye or have a badly burned face.”

Mr Murphy was left with a cut lip and a sore face but the experience has not put him off.

Despite a large number of bonfires and firework displays across Suffolk the weekend passed off extremely quietly for the emergency services with only two callouts for Suffolk Fire and Rescue to bonfires out of control.

The East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust said they had not had any callouts to a bonfire or firework display.