London’s firefighers are being called out almost once an hour to help and rescue people who have locked themselves in or out of a vehicle or building.
The LFB (London Fire Bridgade) said that over the last three years they had been called out almost 22,000 times for incidents regarding people being locked in or out of vehicles and buildings.
It is estimated that the cost to tax payers of these call outs is more than £5m.
Incidents that the brigade was called to in the period from 2009-2011 included:
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2787 calls for people locked in a property
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1613 calls for people locked out of a property
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1409 calls involving children being locked in homes or cars
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Over 400 calls for people being locked in toilets
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12 calls involving people locked in cemeteries
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14 calls regarding people locked in cupboards
Some of the more unusual calls included:
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A woman stuck in a fridge, a man shut in a freezer and a person stuck in a recycling bin.
The London Fire Brigade has said that it wanted to reduce callouts regarding people that are locked in/out of properties and cars and they went on to say that locksmiths should be called first, unless a life is at risk.
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