Has anyone else found themselves locked in?

My ex lodger went outside at 8am one cold winter's morning to pop something into the bin, she was wearing a tiny, cotton nightie as the bin was a mere 10 foot away.... The wind caught the door and it slammed shut. She didn't have ANYTHING at all with her and didn't know my mobile number off by heart. Luckily, a religious neighbour took pity on her after an hour so ensconced her into his lounge where she spent the entire day listening to his bible recitals and sermon construction!
I returned home at 6pm and have always, ALWAYS put the latch up since!!!

I think I've been fortunate as I am a bit accident prone. I was locked in a public toilet as a child in the days when the penny slot for admission was attached to the door of each cubicle. DM was all for saving money and held the door open for me as she exited - unfortunately it would not open again without the penny being inserted. Indignantly she went to find the attendant to complain and insisted she opened it for me, while I was inside panicking! In later years in student digs I locked myself out twice, only one week apart, causing the landlady to make a 10-mile round trip to let me in. Another time, I nipped into my hotel bathroom before bed and the handle jammed. No phone, marble (thick) wall tiles, and I wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately, it was the only hotel I've ever been in with a metal soap dish just thin enough to unscrew the handle like a screwdriver, so I dismantled the handle and about half an hour later let myself out. Apologised to receptionist and she said no worries, they knew some of the handles jammed! Perhaps the worst was when we were on a hotel balcony in Spain, shut the door behind us to keep the mozzies out, and then realised there was no handle on the outside. It was a sheer drop down from the balcony and when we shouted for help people must have thought it was a noisy drinking party. It was nearly an hour before someone came from reception to let us back in to the room. When we apologised later they said not to worry as it was always happening!

I carry my mobile everywhere I go and endure that it’s fully charged, I even take it to the loo with me in restaurants in case I get stuck in there with a broken door lock or something ?

I help with an RDA group and when one of our horses was having teeth problems he had to be fed little and often. As I lived near the stables I went one evening to give his last feed. I opened the door to the box and went in, carefully pulling the top bolt over so the door wouldn't swing open. When I came to go out again I found the kick bolt on the bottom had fallen down trapping me! I tried to use the horse to climb over but in the end had just enough signal on my mobile (thank goodness I'd taken it!) to call my son to come and rescue me! He thought it hilarious!!

Managed to sort of lock myself in the car with new GD2 recently. DD had gone into her ex’s to pick up GD1, which can take a while, when the babe started crying. So, having driven round the block in the hope it would settle her, I hopped out of the driver’s seat into the back to comfort her. Job achieved, I then realised I couldn’t exit out the back seat as we have child locks on both doors that can only be released from outside. Rather than an ungainly scramble over the seats into the front, decided to wait for DD to come back which by that time, wasn’t too long.

My Elderly Dad recently suffered a fall whilst at home in his bungalow, and was unable to get up off the floor and had stubbornly refused to ware his pendant emergency alarm. After a couple of hours, he managed to knock the phone off the hall table to call me for help. We have a key to his home, but on arrival he had locked the front door and left the key in the lock on the inside, preventing us from using our key to gain entry to help him. He always keeps the back door bolted, as he’s very paranoid regards security, even the windows were all locked, we had no choice but to call the emergency services to help us break into the place and also to get Dad to hospital as he had suffered a nasty cut on his arm and severe bruising when he fell. He has since recovered, but the lesson regards having such tight security measures was pointed out to us by the Fire service who arrived to gain entrance for us, Never make a property so secure that it would be very difficult and time consuming to break out of in case of Fire. Always plan and practice your escape route, never lock upstairs windows whilst you are at home, and carry a sturdy hammer in your car to break the toughened Glass to gain exit or entry inside a veichle during an emergency, such as fire or entrapment during flooding. All sound advice that most of us would not think about as we go about our normal daily lives.

Worked in a hospital ward that was next to the mortuary. On leaving her shift a colleague noticed a face at the window and someone tapping on the glass. Security was called and it was found to be a deceased patients relative who had been missed when the mortuary closed for the evening! Scary !

Not exactly locked in or out, but 20 ish years ago, I’d recently moved home & as I was a single mum, & still reasonably active in my 40’s, I took on a lot of jobs that really should have been tackled by two people, or at least one stronger than I.
So, I took on the task of moving a very heavy (double) wardrobe from my bedroom in to the hallway via a narrower than usual doorway.
It was pretty difficult & the old fashioned furniture was unwieldy.
I got the darn thing halfway out with me stuck inside it. It was double doors & I entered the wardrobe from the bedroom side, with the intention of exiting the other door which was hallway side... so you see, I was trying inch by inch to manoeuvre it.
However because of the narrower than normal doorway, some how the wardrobe doors got wedged with me trapped inside the wardrobe.... it was alternately scary & funny in a weird way... I remember bing so puffed out & hot & bothered, I sat on the wardrobe floor laughing hysterically!
If I remember correctly, my teenage son came home sometime later & “rescued” me. Oh the shame when he sort of told me off for not waiting for him to assist. Think also though that he was quietly amused & proud that his gutsy (his description) mum at least had a go.

This has made me check all my keys! I am now planning to get more copies made and make sure a couple of neighbours have spares. I know that DS and DD have spares, but they could be at work or on holiday, (even at the same time....). I am so terrified of losing my keys. Does anyone have a keysafe, and are they any good?

When we lived in a very small, friendly town in NZ my two sons would walk home from school very safely, frequently calling in at our lovely library which was en route. They had a great kids section with large beanbags to sink into. The boys knew to be polite & quiet & the ladies enjoyed their visits. One day they both got so engrossed in some new favourites they were completely unaware the staff had locked up & left. The staff didn't spot them settled in the beanbags. They didn't panic & the eldest attracted the attention of a passer by via the floor to ceiling windows & talked through the letterbox. They've never forgotten and are still avid readers. The youngest wasn't worried, he said he knew I'd be able to post pizza or sandwiches through the big letterbox

Yes I was stuck in my daughters loo for 4hrs. The handle fell off when I shut loo door. No reading material in her loo either! Resorted to totally cleaning shower, taps, floor, toilet and reading the back of shampoo bottles etc. Luckily I wasn’t babysitting!

I got stuck in the bath once. Due to limited mobility I just couldn't get my legs or arms in a position to get up. I was waiting for hand rails to be fitted.
Fortunately I had my phone, I called my mom but I answer which left a few friends with keys or my brother! All my friends were miles away.......
Yes. Naked as the day I was born my fireman brother who fortunately wasn't on shift cam to the rescue. He later admitted that even on duty he'd never had to do that before! ?
Thank god I had my phone though!

Many years ago I was trapped in a lift. I worked in a bank in Curzon street, 4 of us were going for lunch and the lift stopped between floors. The only reason I didn't panic was someone else did. Had wait for fire brigade to get us out

So terrified of being locked out of the house (gusts of wind etc) that I take the keys out with me even if it's just to put the recycling out or get some wood for the fire.

Last week, in our newly revamped local station, a group of late night arrivals off a train found they were locked in to the station. They trundled off to find what used to be the night entrance and that was locked too. They ended up helping each other out over a fence. Luckily no-one was too disabled to make it and they were quite cheery about it but it's not ideal and Words Have Been Had with SW trains.

A friend of mine being concerned about her friend who was unwell rang the police when unable to make telephone contact. She had tried calling over the whole day and evening. My friend lived 150 miles from poorly friend, so decided to call the police. Two officers failed to make themselves heard and broke down the back door to gain entry. On entering the bedroom they found the lady asleep in bed. She was very surprised to find two handsome young men by her bed!! The reason she had been unable to take phone calls was due to change of phone company that day. My friend still blushes at the memory of her friends door being broken down and the shock of waking to find men, however handsome, in the bedroom.

The idea of being locked in is really scary. It’s never happened to me, but once on the way to work I passed a lady frantically banging on her porch window. She had pulled the front door shut behind her then realised she had forgotten her keys and not unlocked the porch. In those days before mobile phones I had to knock next door, and asked them to ring the woman’s daughter to come and let her out.

My claim to fame is that DD1 and I managed to get locked inside Durham Cathedral one Sunday night years ago. (Before mobile phones) She was 7 and as a treat, we’d been to the Undercroft for tea and gingerbread. Freezing cold, snow on the ground but DD was wearing her school duffel coat, thank goodness, Long story - but we were eventually released at 10pm having been out since 4 and locked in for hours,
At home, DH was totally unconcerned and thought we’d probably been to see a friend, despite the time and that it was School next day. I often wonder how long he’d have waited before raising some kind of alert!

Thanks again for all the posts. I can laugh now about being locked in but it was far from funny at the time. I am sure all of you feel the same way.

I was shopping on my own and got locked in the only changing room, which was situated at the back of a small quiet, ladies boutique in Japan.
I did manage to remain calm and not start screaming!
No one spoke English but after about 15 mins staff found me and understood my predicament.

Had just tearfully waved off DH and DS to Heathrow - DS off to the States on gap year travels; turned sadly to go in to shower and dress for work when discovered that DH had locked the back door and gone off with the key. Sadness turned to fury as I contemplated the day in dressing gown and slippers, but kind neighbour was able to provide coffee, something to wear and bus fare to work. Apologetic phone call at work from DH who said he was very sorry but knew I would find a way to manage the situation. One way of stopping me from missing and worrying about DS, I suppose!

Our garage has an up-and-over door which is quite heavy and high. I pushed it up, but not quite enough, got in and in my car, and it slammed down again behind me. OH was in hospital at the time- but fortunately my neighbour, who is quite a way down the road, was having a cigi on her fron steps and heard me. She is even smaller than me, but managed to open it just high enough for me to crawl under. Had it been later at night- I would have been stuck there!

@ALANaV
I've live in our home for nearly 39 years and we have neighbours who just don't speak to anyone.

I hope you do move and find somewhere friendly.

Twenty five years ago my 18 month old son managed to lock himself in the downstairs loo. I was beside myself as there were no neighbours around. I rang 999 and about 15 minutes later a burley looking traffic policeman on a motorcycle came to my rescue. My son was not alarmed in the least. He was happily dipping the toilet brush into the toilet and brushing his hair lol

Oh dear ...happened to me once in a basement toilet in France ….could NOT open the door ….until someone eventually came down to the basement …..and said 'YOU SLIDE THE DOOR;.....did feel like an idiot ...after all, I must have slid it open ! dah ! Now I have moved back to the UK since my husband died. I bought a specialist retirement flat THINKING there would be a community spirit ..i.e. things to do, people to talk to, neighbours to help in a crisis ..how wrong can you be ....we just all had a letter from the managing agents 'DO NOT contact US, DO NOT bother the manageress (who only works four hours Mon to Friday AND DO NOT CONTACT other neighbours !!!!! now that sounds really friendly ! another reason I bought this was understood there would be a management team who I could ask to perform minor repairs, etc (light bulbs in ceiling for instance, although I used to do all my own decorating, repairs etc now I am 73 and no longer possess any tools or ladders) but NO ….even though I would be perfectly willing, and would expect, to pay for services ..how can I employ an electrician to change a lightbulb ! very angry with myself for buying this place and would urge anyone else thinking of it to think hard ! In fact, on Monday I was talking to a couple waiting in reception to view a flat for their 84 year old mother …..because 'she would like to live somewhere were she has companionship and things to do, people to talk to, events to go to.....I am afraid I HAD to say well, she won't find it here !!!! Didn't want to live on my own in a house ...but now seriously thinking about selling this and buying one ! I have just bought a caravan for summers on a holiday park to escape ! not happy !

I got locked in work accidentally, although I didn't know until the manager who had locked up saw the light on in my office (I had been on the phone and he normally tapped the window in the door and showing his watch but didn't that night) - he nearly gave me a heart attack by banging on the window and shouting don't move - the alarm was motion activated, so if I had stood up it would have gone off.