Woman stuck inside locked public toilet needs fire crew rescue after door malfunction

A woman had to be cut free byfirefightersafter the door of brand new public toilets malfunctioned.

The visitor to Exmouth seafront visited the loo at Exmouth Foxholes, near the lifeboat station, but had to call her boyfriend who was outside so he could summon help. The toilet block with brightly-coloured doors was installed in January this year. A passer-by, seeing the fire crew from Exmouth Fire Station in action, filmed the incident.

He said he could see the woman's boyfriend pacing angrily outside as she remained stuck in the cubicle with the yellow door for more than an hour on Saturday afternoon (August 16).

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"The woman by the name of Caroline found herself locked in. She was stuck in a newly-built toilet complex for over an hour in Exmouth," Andrew Bowen, who filmed the rescue, told DevonLive.

"I spoke with her boyfriend waiting outside who was angry that if he hadn't have been waiting for her outside, nobody would have known she was in there as the cubicles are soundproofed. The boyfriend said he was going to make a complaint as it could have been a child or an elderly person stuck in there."

In his video you can see fire crews trying small tools to wedge the door of the toilets open. They were forced to cut open part of the panelling near the lock then cut the locking mechanism off and finally they tried different sizes of crowbars, before three of them managed to pry the door of the toilets open.

Several people commented on Andrew's video, which he posted on his Facebook page, saying it could have been a lot worse had it been a vulnerable person.

Some wondered if trying to pay the 40p fee again might have helped to unlock the door. The video shows the firefighters tapping the card panel but to no effect before resorting to having to use tools.

One woman commented: "Had this been an individual on their own this could have been very serious. With them being soundproof! Especially someone who doesn’t necessarily have a family at home wondering where they are."

Other said perhaps East Devon District Council ought to install emergency pull cords in all its public toilets. Another added: "I understand soundproofing to a degree, but surely it should not be so good you can't keep someone calling... What if it had been a medical emergency?"