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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

firebrigade...locked in bathroom

103 replies

ghostspirit · 18/06/2015 18:58

To ask if your child locked them self in bathroom would you call fire service out? i would not as i think its a waste of their services. just kick the door down. Can fire services refuse to attend if they think its wasted service/they are not really needed?

OP posts:
hiddenhome · 18/06/2015 22:56

If the door was solid oak and the person inside was in a diabetic coma, then I'd call them out, otherwise just force it open.

Blu · 18/06/2015 23:08

Do you not risk hurting your toddler if they are the other side of a kicked in door in a small room?

VoldemortsNipple · 18/06/2015 23:20

When I was about 5, I locked myself in the bathroom in a pub. It was a big old solid wood door with frosted safety glass in it. The pub was packed, I think we must have been on a day out to a union rally. Nobody could break the door down. In the end my dad told me to stand back away from the door as far as possible while he put a bar stool through the window. I Had a picket full of change by the time we left with sympathy payments Grin

Mutley77 · 18/06/2015 23:53

I nearly called the fire brigade (I was asking dd 10 to call) when my toddler got her finger stuck in the back of a hinge. I couldn't think of anyone who could get to me quickly as it was 8am and we had moved so didn't know the neighbours and their routines.

My toddler was seriously distressed and trying to fling herself about with her finger wedged firmly in the door. It was horrible to see and I couldn't work out how to get her finger out without crushing it. I didn't want to leave her to go to the garage for a tool to try and unscrew the door and couldn't work out how I could unscrew it any case with her flailing around and being so panicky. In the end she slammed the door and created enough of a gap to wrench it out Confused and it wasn't broken just badly swollen.

The family with the child and foot in the toy is a bit weird. Could they not have taken her to a and e or bashed the toy with a hammer themselves (there were 2 parents there).

TracyBarlow · 19/06/2015 00:07

DH is a fireman. All they would do is break the lock or smash the door ini anyway, so it's worth having a go yourself first to save calling them out. Or get a screwdriver and see if taking the handle off does any good.

He does get called out several times a year to these jobs, usually in hotels. It does drive me up the wall as he's retained, so if he gets called out I have to handle my three children on my own, often woken and distressed by the alrerter going off and he gets paid peanuts

MrsBennetsEldest · 19/06/2015 09:29

I agree Tracey, when that alerter goes off it's a bloody pain. I think a lot of people have no idea about the retained system.

If you think about it, it's a minimum of 4 firefighters to a pump, 4 people's days disrupted, 4 people's lives put on hold and for the retained stations the firefighters really are paid a pittance.

Heels99 · 19/06/2015 09:34

Call a joiner to Remove th door. Or a locksmith. Not the emergency services. They should charge for this type of call out.
Have locks on the bathroom that can be opened from outside. Situation is completely avoidable.

ragged · 19/06/2015 09:51

I've kicked a door down for this reason.

And I'm a right proper wuss. Needs must and all that.

ragged · 19/06/2015 09:53

Thing is, if it's a very small child then it will become a very high priority to fire&rescue.
A norty 8yo trying to escape a bollocking not so urgent.

StockingFullOfCoal · 19/06/2015 09:59

When I was 12, my 2YODSis bolted herself in the bathroom. Spent half an hour trying to convince her to sit in the bath so Step Dad could boot the door in, but obviously she was terrified and stayed near the door. Bathroom was absolutely tiny - when the door fully opened, it was only a few inches away from the toilet on the opposite wall. Couldn't guarantee she'd get in the bath and stay there, so Step Dad called the fire brigade who were a bit miffed at first but once they'd got through the window and they'd seen how tiny the room was, changed their tune and said he'd done the right thing.

nocoolnamesleft · 19/06/2015 10:02

Potential trigger follows

It is avoidable. My bathroom door has no lock. It is also amazing how many doors can be smashed in. Many years ago at work, a couple of us did it with a bathroom door that was heavy enough to have a fire rating. But if we'd waited for the fire brigade, there'd have been a dead kid. (Obviously can't say why, but they would have been) Amazing motivation. And yes, every bathroom lock in that hospital was removed that day, to be later replaced by ones you could easily open from outside, rather than ones that should have but didn't.

But if, say, it is a toddler and there is water in the bath, far far better to call the fire brigade to smash the door, than the ambulance because a child has drowned. As a taxpayer, I'd far sooner be paying them to break down doors, many many doors, to avoid one cold white limp toddler being run into A&E, receiving CPR in the arms of a distraught paramedic. There are few calls I dread more as a doctor than a crash call for a drowning, as it is so rare we can save them.... and so much even rarer that they are ever the same again.

Odd, a thread about bathroom doors has me in tears. Maybe we're human after all...

Delphine31 · 19/06/2015 10:03

Would a locksmith not be able to help in many of these situations?

I know bathroom locks are different generally to the locks on our front doors, but I would have thought locksmiths would know all the tricks in the book!?

BualadhBos · 19/06/2015 10:17

I wouldn't call them because I am in Ireland and we have to pay big call out fees.

BiddyPop · 19/06/2015 10:24

DH kicked the door in at MILs house before - DD locked herself in where it was a bolt. And panicked. Luckily, it's only a small bolt so no damage.

Isthereeverarightime1 · 19/06/2015 10:41

Nocool, that is my fear completely, I don't have any locks in our internal doors at all, DS is 15 months and has learnt to open and shut doors if we had locks I know he would find it funny to lock them as its all new and our bathroom is very small so breaking to door down would almost definitely hurt him however if there was a danger of drowning I would risk it! But I am happier living in a house with no locks Smile

ragged · 19/06/2015 10:53

If it's a slide bar lock it's easier to kick it down & replace bolt than to pay lots of money for an emergency locksmith.

PurpleCrazyHorse · 19/06/2015 10:57

Considering removing the bolt lock on our bathroom door (just moved in, old house had locks you can operate from the outside with a key). Will have to have a 'code' of door open = vacant, door shut = engaged.

AvocadoLime · 19/06/2015 11:26

It would depend if they were old enough to understand a command to stand well away from the door or not. Something broke in the door handle mechanism to my friend's 3yo DS's bedroom door once so he was locked in and they just called the fire service, I think it probably would have been better to kick the door in but I don't think it occurred to them. If it happened to a 1 year old, I would call the fire service because I would be scared of causing them an injury if they toddled up to the door as I was kicking it in.

This thread has caused me to Google the best way to kick in a door, just in case this ever happens to me! Apparently the best place to kick is just to the left of the handle, as that is the weakest part of the structure. Apparently shouldering it isn't effective as you can't get as much power, you're aiming at the wrong part of the door and you might dislocate your shoulder.

HappyIdiot · 19/06/2015 13:06

when dh was very little, he managed to lock himself and his entire family in their bathroom. he was about 4, his sister was 2 and the family had just moved in to their new house. his parents were getting ready one morning and had brought the kids into the bathroom with them because the house was a building site. the lock on the door hadn't been fitted yet and the mechanism was loose. dh pushed the whole lot through the door and it dropped outside.

fil had to climb out of the window and down the drainpipe on the side of a pebble-dashed house stark naked Grin and then break in through the back door.

whois · 19/06/2015 13:59

Total fuckwit to have a lock on a bathroom door which can't be opened from the outside with a coin when you have children. Or in fact, just full stop.

I would kick the door in rather than call the fire brigade, but then I'm not a twat who likes wasting an expensive resource.

BlueBlueSea · 19/06/2015 15:24

My DS (17) locked himself in the bathroom the other night at 2am. He went into the bathroom and the lock came away in his hand and he could not unlock it. I did not hear him shouting and knocking for about 20 mins, I was fast asleep. He was on the verge of sleeping on the bathroom floor. I was able to unlock the door from the outside.

I did lock him in the car one (hot) day when he was 18 months, along with my handbag, phone, house and car keys. DH was away and I could not get back in the house. He was strapped into his car seat so I could not get him to do anything. I borrowed a joggers phone and called the police, they came quickly. I said they could break into the house, where I had a spare car key to the car. They said the car was easier and got him out in a couple of minutes.

Jayneca1 · 19/02/2022 14:27

I am not a mum but I have had this experience happened to me in 1991, my nan’s downstairs bathroom, it did lead to calling the fire department. There is a small walk way to the toilet from the door as it also has the outside cupboard, if my family members did try to do it themselves a chance the door would of killed or very serious injuries to me. Thankful that I am still alive to tell my story
I am terrified to go in the bathroom now after 30 years

Realitydawning98 · 19/02/2022 14:59

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

Cakelover17 · 19/02/2022 15:00

ZOMBIE THREAD people

VelvetChairGirl · 19/02/2022 15:05

never lived anywhere where a door couldnt be unlocked from the outside with a screwdriver.