Couple praise fire crews after baby locks herself in car

Lilly May McArthur, just 13 months old, ended up trapped inside mum Sam Brown's VW Golf and was there for two hours until she was rescued.

Miss Brown said: "I only have a two-door car so I was using both hands to get Lilly May from the car, and I was holding the keys in my mouth.

"She took them to play with and that was when a car honked its horn to get past. So I pushed the door to and I must have pushed it all the way.

"Lilly May then must have clicked the button and by doing that locked the door."

The drama happened outside their home in Berwyn View, Ellesmere.

Partner Robert McArthur said: "Because another car was trying to get past Sam shut the door to for a second."

Miss Brown tried to get Lilly May out for about half an hour, but ended up contacting Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service and a crew from Ellesmere was quickly on the scene.

Mr McArthur works with some of the firefighters at the Fabdec company in Ellesmere and saw a couple of them leave the factory to respond to a call.

"I had no idea that they were going to my house," he said.

"I got a call a few minutes later from Sam explaining what had happened and when I got home the crew was in the process of releasing Lilly May.

"She was quite happy in the car, she wasn't phased at all.

"We are very lucky to have a fire station in the town with firefighters able to respond so quickly to emergencies."

Miss Brown added: "They were absolutely fantastic. It was quite scary because Lilly May was in there for about two hours.

"But they were brilliant – they did everything they could to not smash up my car and get her out safely."