The Emergency Services Agency was called to an industrial site in Howie Court where they found a plumber mired knee-deep in a 1 metre high trench and despite his best efforts, was unable to extract himself.

The apprentice plumber had jumped into the open trench to make a final check on the sealing of a water main, which had previously sprung a leak but had already been repaired.

However, while from above the trench appeared to have just a thin skim of mud at the bottom, instead it was filled with gluey, knee-deep clay.

Despite a number of different extraction methods, including his workmates yanking on his arms, the plumber was deeply embedded.

His embarrassing predicament became even more so with the arrival of the firefighters, who laid a ladder across the mouth of the open trench and with the help of some hand tools, managed to pull the plumber's feet clear.

But while his feet were extricated without incident or harm, his boots were not.

The workboots will remain in the mire, and will be part of the backfill when the trench is closed up.

WorkSafe ACT attended the site and will be making no further enquiries.