Two-year-old locks mum out for Mr Tumble
Two-year-old tearaway Mason Anthony knew exactly what to do when his mother Sam, aged 26, popped out of their Wolverhampton home for a cigarette in the back garden - he locked the door behind her and settled down in front of the TV.
Two-year-old tearaway Mason Anthony knew exactly what to do when his mother Sam, aged 26, popped out of their Wolverhampton home for a cigarette in the back garden - he locked the door behind her and settled down in front of the TV.
Her pleas to be let in fell on deaf ears as the delighted boy enjoyed life Home Alone.
The little lad happily munched crisps and watched children's TV favourite Mr Tumble as the real life drama developed in the rain outside.
Sam spent up to 45 minutes in her dressing gown trying to get back in to the semi without success despite alerting neighbours, removing the letter box, climbing a ladder, trying to squeeze herself through the narrow chink of windows left on the locking latch and repeatedly attempting to persuade her son to turn the key the other way in the lock.
She finally had to admit defeat and phoned the fire service from the mobile she had taken outside to chat to a friend while having a smoke and they cut a large enough hole in the back door to reach the keys.
Crew commander Colin Waldron from Merridale Street fire station said: "Everybody else was jumping around in the rain while we could see him through the window sitting as happy as Larry watching the television."
Sam explained at the house in Roxby Gardens, Whitmore Reans, where she moved with her son two weeks ago: "He is a real rascal. He locked me out once at our previous address but luckily somebody else was inside with him. I did not realise that I had been locked out this time until I tried to get back in. I had closed the back door because it was raining and I did not want him running outside in it. The keys were in the key hole on the inside of the door and he just turned them to lock it.
"I pushed open the cat flap to try to persuade him to turn the key the other way and let me in but he was more interested in wandering around the house on his own. I was frantic because he has reached the age where he gets into everything and could imagine him sticking his fingers in a light socket."
"He looked out of the window a couple of times and smiled at me before getting some biscuits and settling down to watch Mr Tumble on TV. "
Sam says she was embarrassed to call the fire brigade but that the firefighters were "fantastic".
