Escapologist Antony Britton was forced to abandon plans for a spectacular “buried alive” stunt after safety advisers said it would be suicidal to attempt it.

Linthwaite-based Antony had hoped to go one better than legendary showman Harry Houdini by escaping unaided after being handcuffed and buried in a standard-sized grave under six tons of soil.

But the Buried Alive challenge, which was due to take place last Friday evening, had to be abandoned after the unexpected snowfall on Friday morning covered the site next to the Traveller’s Rest at Meltham.

While the rest of the evening’s Escape for Life events went ahead as planned, Anthony substituted his premature burial for a stunt he hadn’t performed for 20 years – being lowered handcuffed into a milk churn of ice-cold water before freeing himself from the handcuffs and picking four locks on the sides of the churn to get out – completing the escape in two minutes.

Anthony said: “I woke up on Friday to find it was snowing heavily and one of my associates ringing to find out what would happen. The snow melted and saturated the ground, which meant the safety advisers were concerned about the sides of the hole we would dig caving in. The six tons of soil on top of me would have weighed nearer 10 tons because of the water and it would have been suicidal to attempt it.”

Anthony apologised to spectators who turned up to watch the buried alive act, but said: “We have only postponed it. We are looking to do the escape later this year, probably in September. People who bought tickets for Friday’s Escape for Life event will be able to use them.”

The replacement act wasn’t without its dangers, Anthony said: “I asked my assistants to put some hot water with the cold when they filled the churn, but there were ice cubes in the water when it went in. It was freezing and I blacked out for a while afterwards.

“The last time I did that escape was 20 years ago when I was a lot younger and fitter, but we decided to go ahead because it was relatively simple to set up.”

The evening, which raised hundreds of pounds for Comic Relief, included close-up magic, music and food as well as glass-walking and a bed of nails – which members of the public were able to try out under supervision.