London Fire Brigade has revealed they are called out almost once an hour to rescue people who have locked themselves inside or outside a building.
The figures show that the general public are using firefighters as a locksmith service with almost shocking regularity. The Brigade was called out to almost 22,000 such incidents in the past three years.
These callouts are estimated to cost £260 a time meaning the total cost of these incidents to the taxpayer is £5,691,400.
However, it’s not just houses people call from after being locked in or out. Other locations include a fridge, the luggage area of a coach, and a crematorium!
“We’ve even had people call 999 to ask if we can come round and let them into their homes, but then ask for the fire engine to arrive at 11.30 once they’ve finished at the pub,” said Dave Brown, head of operations, prevention and response at London Fire Brigade.
The figures reveal the service was called to the 21,890 locked out incidents in 2009-11:
- 2,287 incidents where people were locked in
- 1,613 incidents where people were locked out
- 1,409 incidents involving babies or children being locked in cars or homes
- 276 adults and 176 children locked in toilets
- 12 people locked in cemeteries
- 14 people locked in cupboards
- A woman stuck in a fridge
- A man shut in a freezer
- A person locked in the luggage area of a coach
- A person locked in a crematorium with a child
- A person stuck in a recycling bin
The service is keen to highlight these kinds of incidents so that they can reduce them, and warn that they may not attend if it’s clear there is no emergency.
Mr Brown said, “If it’s not a genuine emergency, ring a locksmith, not the fire brigade. Whilst firefighters are helping people get back into their homes, someone else could be trapped in a fire. If it’s obvious to our crews that it’s not an emergency, we won’t help and people may well find themselves left out in the cold.”
London Fire Brigade did however remind people that there are a number of genuine locked out emergencies that they will still attend such as if someone has left cooking, hair strengtheners or candles on inside their homes and have been locked out, or if someone’s life is at risk for instance from locking their medication inside.
However, if on attending the incident they find no evidence of such an emergency situation they will take no action in helping the person into the property.
London Fire Brigade are spending Tuesday highlighting any locked in/locked out incidents on their Twitter feed.
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