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It’s 3:30 am I’ve been asleep  for just under 2 hours

When the phone rings, it’s 2° outside and pissing down with rain, my bed is so comfortable right now. I’m the only locksmith in Perth who Guarantees to answer their phones 24/7.

  Young woman on the phone says her friend is locked in the toilet she’s been there for 3 hours and she’s another hour away from freedom by the time I get there. I can’t think of anything worse than having ones liberty taken from them, to be trapped in a toilet just over 1 square meter in diameter is enough to make anybody claustrophobic.

I don’t mind waking up and running to someone’s rescue in the middle of the night, I get huge satisfaction from my job especially in these situations.

They’ve tried all the supposed 24 hr locksmiths in the book and everything to get this door open, from Spatulas, butter knives, screwdrivers and plastic cards to no avail before coming across my number.

New houses are meant to be fitted with emergency doors that can simply lift off in the event of an emergency but if the strike plate is the wrong type and not the elongated ones, then this feature is useless as it was in this circumstance, it was by far the hardest toilet door I’ve ever had to open, perhaps because they tried to open the door prior to me arriving causing more damage than normal. 

  But nothing gives me more joy than to see the look on the person‘s face and the hug I receive, when they’ve been given their freedom, her mascara running  all down her cheeks tells me she has been crying, hard, it’s a horrible feeling that has left many of my clients traumatized and unable to close or lock the toilet door behind them ever again.

   Fortunately for her that her friend Jess was with her, her boyfriend a FIFO not due back for another week. This scenario could’ve easily gone sour and she could’ve died in that toilet had she been alone. This is a real danger and not to be taken light-hearted, if you’re renting a property or own, make sure the toilets are equipped with the right emergency features. Especially if you have the Gainsborough contractor series privacy set, with the sidebar you have to push In to lock, they’re pretty to look at but when they jam and they will eventually, they jam good.

This is one photo of what they look like, the handles can come in different designs but the side button feature is the same. The locking mechanism is in the latch and not the handle like most privacy sets and prone to failure.

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