72 • AUTOLOCKSMITHS
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AUTO LOCKSMITH RESCUES TODDLER
»»PROVING THAT
locksmiths are the fourth
emergency service, auto
locksmith, Chris Ritchie of
Chris Ritchie Garage Services
in Barrow-in-Furness,
Cumbria, is no stranger to
coming to the aid of those in
need, offering an emergency
callout service to his local fire
and police services, completely
free-of-charge.
In March this year, he
earned a worthy mention in
the local evening paper when
he was called on by the fire
service to access a vehicle
that had been accidentally
locked by toddler, Joey
Kipling, who was trapped
inside.
“I am frequently called
out to assist in the rescue
of children and animals,”
explains Chris. “Since the
incident in March, I have
already been called to assist
the emergency services three
times. It is not uncommon for
children to lock themselves in
a car and I attend at least 10
incidents involving children
every year.”
In such cases, the vehicle
owner will usually ring a
breakdown service first, as
had Joey’s mother, Rebecca
Kleinhans, when she realised
that her 15-month-old son had
the car keys and had locked
himself in the car as she was
sorting out her shopping in
the car park. Rebecca and
her friend attempted to
encourage Joey to press the
unlock button on the key fob
but he continued to press lock
before dropping the keys out of
reach from the car seat he was
strapped into.
Her roadside rescue advised
that they would be up to an
hour and to contact the fire
service instead, who were quick
to arrive on the scene. Where a
child is in distress or danger they
would usually break into the car
straight away but, seeing that the
child was in a calm state, they
called auto locksmith, Chris,
who was able to free the child
without causing damage to the
Audi A4 estate.
“After making an assess