Have you ever been locked out or locked in ?

When I was in my twenties I lived in Rome. Our apartment had a roof terrace, where you were allowed to hang your washing. It was a perfect sun trap, views of the seven hills, and a nice cooling breeze, but we had a very grumpy concierge who would not allow us to sunbathe up there. (It was something to do with the rental contract.) We used to take our washing up then strip off to our bikinis, but she always seemed to catch us! One day I did several loads of washing, sunbathing in-between, and she didn't appear, Emboldened, I took the last load up without putting my clothes on, and gave the door a shove as I left. I'd left the keys inside! As I reached the roof it began to thunder. I had to walk past her cubicle in my bikini, along the busy road by the Tiber to a friend's house, in a bikini and flip flops, with the enraged portiera shouting at me. Fortunately the letting agent saw the funny side.

Oh dear, I've two tales.

One, three year old DS insisting he was desperate to go to the loo on a brand new coach bound for the continent before we'd even set off from the local bus station. He locked himself in, the door had to be taken off its hinges, and so we set off on the journey with a toilet in full view. We were popular.

Two, DH desperately needed the loo in Paris as we were following a self-guided walk on my Kindle. He flatly refused to go to the one in front of us, with automatic lock and flush, as he had a flashback to using one years earlier, getting locked in and having to shout for ages for someone to let him out. I laughed so hard I dropped my Kindle on the cobbles and broke the screen. Serves me right for being so heartless.

In January my husband was in our bathroom, the door was unlocked, but the handle mechanism broke and although I removed the handle from the other side I couldn't get it open. He has a brain injury and began to panic, so I ended up calling a locksmith, who released him in about 5 minutes. He charged over £150 !!

On holiday in Tenerife one year, we had a large curved balcony, accessed by two sets of patio doors. One morning OH and I were sitting on the balcony reading, when the maid arrived to clean our room. It was only after she left that we realised she had shut (and locked!) both sets of doors, not realising we were outside. We were three floors up, and spent quite a while trying to attract the attention of any passers by, particularly English speaking, to ask them to go into reception and explain our predicament!
The staff were very apologetic when we were finally rescued!

DS2 got up to go to the loo when staying overnight in a hotel. He opened the wrong door and found himself on the landing, but only realized as the door slammed shut. So there he was - stark naked!!!

He decided to try to get close enough to reception to call for help, but without 'revealing' himself. In an attempt to do this, he spent 30 mins wandering around, but couldn't find a way to get there without being seen.
Eventually he realized that he could call for help from a lift, and a member of staff came up with a key card to let him back in his room, somehow keeping a very staight face.

He was at the hotel for a conference, and having only been in the job for three weeks, didn't know many people on arrival. Word soon spread, so when he left they all knew who he was.

I bet the hotel's CCTV was revealing!

Many years ago as a student physio I lived in the nurses home at the hospital in my first year. Facilities were fine but no en suite in those days - there was a row of cubicles half way along the corridor with basins in each. One night we had a party and some lads came. For some reason one of our number went and locked herself into a cubicle and couldn't get out!!! Cue 'rescue' mode by the chaps resulting in a damaged door that took some explaining!!

Only twice , thank heaven.

Once not our fault, we were in Italy staying with friend in their 5th floor apartment and we went up onto the roof terrace, for lunch, we went to go back down when our hostess,not with the mostest, realised she didn’t have the keys. No worries says DH, so he jumps off of the roof and landed onto their balcony 2 floors down, I still shudder when I remember that one.

Second time , I dropped DH at a pub just outside town for an evening meal with clients, got home to find that my bag wasn’t in the car, my door keys and everything else, obviously inside. Went back in the dark to where I dropped DH off and in the hedge found my bag, he had kicked it out of the car when I dropped him off , phew!

i'd been out for the afternoon with DS, his partner and 2 GSs. Returning to their house, DS and partner each thought the other had the front door key. No! They worked out that whoever closed the door had left the key in the lock - inside! What to do? DS 'bravely' climbed through a trap door in the garage roof which led to a small room where they stored everything not in use, and came down to open the door. Who was in the doghouse? I was never quite sure!

I was once volunteering at the cathedral and came down the stairs at about 7.00 pm to find I was locked in! Fortunately I had access to the loos and a mobile phone, so rang DH to track down someone with a key to come and let me out. Didn't fancy spending the night on a cold stone floor!

"They were there from Monday 'til Saturday.
Nobody knew they were there....."

There’s a spare key under the lavender. No harm in broadcasting its whereabouts as everyone knows and I use it at least once a week.

Grandtanjel, I think it went "they will be there from Monday to Saturday" but i don't recall the end bit.

A couple of years ago we bought holiday home in France. We had been in summer and door was fine. We went over Easter for a long weekend and on Easter Sunday, we left house slamming door to go for a walk. When we got back we unlocked door but it would not open. My dh thought it was just stiff as wood and damp weather, so he tugged and tugged and then the outside door handle fell off. We stood outside for over an hour in light drizzle whilst dh pushed against door. Then neighbour came over and asked what we were doing. I think they thought we were trying to break in. We managed to convince them in poor French we were the new owners he had not seen, because we still had some paperwork in car we showed him. He then went away and came back with the back door key that had been given to him by previous owners. We did not even know anyone else had a key but we were just very grateful. We could not fix door handle until Tuesday as everything closes over Easter as Catholic country.

To all of you who dread locking yourselves out of your homes: buy a keysafe. This nifty little device can be hung up by your back door, or in a more secluded spot. You open it using a code you programmed yourself (and have to remember).

Anyone remember the "naughty version" of "Oh, dear, what can the matter be" that we sang as schoolgirls?

The original was " Oh, dear, what can the matter be, Oh dear what can the matter be, Oh dear, what can the matter be, Jonny's so long at the fair. He promised to buy me a bunch of blue ribbons, he promised to buy me a bunch of blue ribbons, he promised to buy me a bunch of blue ribbons to tie up my bonny brown hair."

The naughty version that we took good care the grown-ups didn't hear us sing, started with "oh dear, what can the matter be? Three old ladies locked in the lavatory..."

and that, infuriatingly, is all I can remember. Any other old ladies out there who remember the rest, whether locked in the lavatory or not?

After my first marriage broke down, I spent a short while in a homeless persons unit. I was up in the attic and the nearest bathroom/shower was down on the next floor. At the time I was attending college and had to get up early to be ready to catch a bus. The 'warden' had his own accommodation joined onto the block of flats I was living in and every evening he would speak to you through the front door buzzer to make sure you were home and safe. Little did I know that he then turned on an alarm to go off if anyone tried to get in or out via the said door. This particular morning, I had got up and taken my clothes and toiletries down to the bathroom for my daily shower, but, I realised I had forgotten something important so went back up to my room. Unfortunately the door was fitted with a lock that you could only open with a key, and where was the key??? In my flat! Panic then set in. I was locked out of my flat in my pj's with no key and needed to be at college at x time. What to do? I had no mobile phone back then, so I went downstairs and started knocking on an internal door which I presumed was to do with the wardens flat. Nothing, no reply, nothing. So I thought, I will have to go outside and ring his front doorbell, but the flats were in a busy square in the middle of town. Eventually I plucked up the courage to open the front door as time was moving on, and then all hell broke loose. The alarm went off, flashing lights, the whole bamboozle lol. I was affronted. The warden came racing through to find me in my pj's, very apologetic and asking if he could let me back into my flat. He was very nice about it, but I can tell you, I never got locked out of my flat again. Lol.

We were locked out on Sunday.

Going to see friends for a bit of a celebration tea. OH thought his keys were still in is pocket from earlier in the day. So out he went with a bottle of bubbly and I followed with a large cream cake. Got to the car - no keys and I'd closed the door.

Thankfully the bedroom quarter light was open and our lovely neighbours brought their ladder round and OH was able to open main window and climb in.

One bottle of wine to the neighbours and a phone call to our friends and all was good again. But we did feel silly :-(

It has prompted us to get on and changing the front door to a double glazed one that needs a key to lock it :-)

Scariest lock in was moving back to the UK. On a train from London to Bristol, DD1 was about 6 and needed to go, we were about 15 mins out of Swindon, our stop. I could see the door so ok for her to go while I got our things together. After a while I spoke to her, thinking she was messing about washing her hands. No she was locked in. I tried, a couple of other passengers tried and we couldn't get the door open. By then we were pulling into Swindon DD1 was in tears and I was frantic.

One of the passengers fetched the guard, he tried, no joy. He said we'd have to go to Bristol sort it out and get the train back. I was so scared as Ex was waiting for us as Swindon and we had a move (March-in) booked, so I wasn't looking forward to his rant.

However, a railway worker on the platform came, bashed the door and opened it with a screwdriver. It was a close run thing. I was so grateful for all the help we had and some very nice man helped us out of the station with our luggage.

Does anyone remember the pensioner who was locked in a shop toilet for 4 days? True British grit! She survived on some sweets and drinks of water, kept warm by using the hand-dryer, and knitted while she waited!
www.express.co.uk/news/uk/628489/Granny-locked-council-toilet-knitting-Blitz-Spirit

When I was 17 I worked in an office. The company had just acquired the dilapidated house next door. On Friday afternoon I wanted to use the loo before going home. The loo was occupied so I slipped next door into the old house to use the loo. Big mistake, the lock broke when I turned it and I was locked in. I was in such a panic, knowing that this was the last place anyone would look for me. I clawed at the lock for ages until it gave way. My fingers were cut to bits. To this day I have a fear of being locked in a loo! My great aunt was locked in a toilet on the train from Liverpool to Wales when she was a young woman. She too never got over it.

We were in a hired car on a remote island off the coast of Gorgia, USA. It was a battered one where you pressed a knob to close the doors. We both jumped out at the same time, locking the doors. Where were the keys? In the ignition of course. Everything was in the car: water, sunhats, money etc. Frantic dash to the nearest hotel about half a mile away, and phone call to car company. Two hours later a cheery man arrived, slid his credit card into the lock and hey presto it opened. Then he said: "The lock was broken, yes?" "Well actually, no, we closed the doors". He repeated "The lock was broken, yes?" Catching on we said "OK", and he drove off. We were never charged.

We were waving DS off to nursery in the transport and DD 2ish saw a large lorry turning in at the end of our road which she did not like the look of and dashed indoors slamming the front door.

The keys were in the house, I was outside and could not get in. We tried to get DD to push the keys through the letter box but in the end she went back into the living room and started playing.

A neighbour tried but in the end we called the police and borrowed a ladder to get in through a window to get in.
It was probably one of the more pleasant jobs of his day.
They did come very quickly.

Years ago, when my children were small, I used the loo in the downstairs cloakroom and the handle jammed and broke off. The window was one of those letterbox types, so no way out. I shouted until one of the children noticed, then instructed the eldest, who luckily was old enough to be reading, to ring OH at the office. Apparently it caused great hilarity there. About an hour later, OH and a colleague arrived and took the door off to let me out. Thankfully, the kids were OK, but it was frightening at the time.

Many years ago, when my two eldest sons were 4 and 2 years old and I was seven months pregnant with No.3, I was cooking dinner and took some particularly smelly food wrappings out to the bin on the front drive. You've guessed it, the front door slammed firmly shut! There were saucepans bubbling on the cooker in an open plan kitchen diner where my sons were playing. I had to get back in the house and quickly. We never left keys with our dubious neighbours. So I walked round to the back of the house where there was an access road behind the garages, found a milk crate and an empty oil drum to climb on to get me on the roof of the garage so I could carefully lower myself down into the garden. I let myself back into our house through the unlocked back door. The kids were fine and I felt pleased with myself for quietly dealing with a potentially disastrous situation - until two policemen knocked on the door just as my husband arrived home! I had been spotted by a neighbour who dialled 999. I had a lot of red-faced explaining to do.

We sat in a carriage on the Edinburgh - London Express a few years ago; one of the semi circular loos was placed between our section of seats and the rest of the carriage. A tiny Scots lady went in, shut the door, didn't lock it presumably and a man came along and pressed the button to open the door. 'Tiny lady was enthroned, frozen and horrified, and then unfroze and pressed the close button. No sooner had it closed than it opened again. This happened three times; my friend and I were almost weeping with a mixture of hysterical laughter and sympathy for the poor lady, which we managed to stifle as she walked past, scarlet, having finally had the door shut long enough for her to leap up and rearrange herself. A few minutes later a porter came along and put an 'out of order' notice on the door. I will never use one of those loos - I would rather quietly wet myself in preference!

In my teens I had a wee run of being locked out of hotels ,in Spain and in the Highlands of Scotland,it just never occured to me they would lock the door.The weather was much warmer in Spain so I sat on the hotel steps until the staff arrived early in the morning...in the highlands it was a skiing trip so it was very cold,I threw stones at a bedroom window without any luck and ended up walking round the town for over 3 hours before staff opened the door . Then there was the time I got locked IN a park and had to climb an 8 foot wall into the chuch grounds to get out.

Why would you need to lock the door when everyone at the meeting knew you were in there and wouldn't come barging in?