Locked out: what to do in the five minutes before you call

13 October 2026

Being locked out is a bad moment to start improvising. Work through this in order.

First, the obvious ones

• Try every other door, including the garage side door and any sliding door.
• Check whether a window is unlatched, but do not climb anything.
• If somebody else has a key and is ten minutes away, that is faster than us.
• For a car, check the boot. People put keys down there more often than you would think.

What not to do

• Do not force the door. A forced door costs more than a lockout and often more than a new lock.
• Do not push a broken key further in with pliers.
• Do not take the lock apart to save time. It rarely does.

When you call

Say where you are, what is locked, and whether anybody is shut inside. A child or a pet in a car changes the order of everything and we will say so on the phone.