A TODDLER from Bude caused some mischief over the bank holiday weekend, when he locked himself in his mother’s car whilst she tried to unpack her shopping, writes Rosie Cripps.

Fourteen-month-old Brandon was accompanying his mother, Kirsty Green, in the child seat of the shopping trolley at Bude’s Lidl store on Friday, April 28, when he was placed in the car — a Rover Streetwise — whilst Kirsty tried to unload her shopping.

However, Kirsty had failed to realise that she had left her keys in the boot of her car, and when trying to open the door to reach them, she discovered that the car was locked and Brandon was trapped inside.

After receiving some assistance from other shoppers in the car park, and with a member of staff from Lidl phoning 101, crews from Bude Community Fire Station were soon on their way to help.

Matt Wonnacott, watch manager for Bude Community Fire Station, told the Post that the child had ‘inadvertently locked himself in’. He said: “Whether the car locked itself, or he managed to lock himself in — I don’t know.

“The woman didn’t belong to the AA or anything, and we asked if she had a spare lot of keys, but there wasn’t, so we were a bit stuck really. Of course, we have lots of equipment with us, but none to break into a car.”

Matt explained that crews had to ‘improvise to start with’, and as it was an old vehicle they were dealing with, it was even more difficult to come up with a solution.

Crews tried to use small tools to attempt to break into the vehicle, but when hooking these tools onto the lever, they slipped and the firefighters were left stumped for ideas.

He continued: “We were beginning to run out of options. At first everyone was happy — we were happy, mum was happy — but then the little lad actually managed to find a two-pence coin in the vehicle, and we realised that he could put it in his mouth. That’s when his mum just burst into tears, because she was worried that he’d choke, so that changed the circumstances completely.

“The glass of the window to the car was then broken; obviously we got permission from the mother to do that. The toddler was then removed from the vehicle through the window. We had to do it, and out he came.”

Brandon was returned to his mother uninjured, and following the rescue, Kirsty sent some words of thanks to Bude Community Fire Station, along with a photo of members of crew talking to Brandon as he sat, laughing and clutching the steering wheel in his mum’s car.

The photo was an instant hit, and has since attracted media attention from across the UK and even as far as Australia and New Zealand.

Matt said: “It’s bizarre! But the young lad’s smiley face — I’m the one on the bonnet talking to him — is just lovely. It’s a perfect picture.

“I’m very glad that people can see the station in a good light. We had a few negative comments on some posts, saying have we got nothing better to do? But we always try and do the best job we can, and when we were worried the toddler would put the coin in his mouth and choke, we had to get him out. I think we did the right thing.

“It’s a great story, and the public have really caught on to it. Why it’s gone viral, I don’t know, but I had private messages from friends over in Australia and New Zealand who had shared it, so we’ve had an amazing response. We’ve had positive feedback all round, and for Bude Community Fire Station as a whole as well. The whole service has gained momentum from this, so it’s been a really positive response.”

Another member of crew, Barney Day, was already out on call, assisting a large scrap fire near Liskeard, when he received calls about the trapped toddler.

He told the Post: “Not long after came a lovely message of thanks from Brandon’s mother via our Facebook page, along with a brilliant photo. His face in the picture just says it all — a really cheeky ‘look at me!’ expression. We knew as soon as it went onto our page it would be a popular post, but I don’t think anyone realised to what extent.

“Within 24 hours, people from all over the world were making comments and liking and sharing the photo, including Brisbane, Australia! The picture’s certainly done the rounds, and it’s a real pleasure to see Bude go viral.”

Barney added: “We have a superb team at Bude, and we’ll always do whatever we can to assist. The crew who attended were superb, and although breaking the window is always a last resort, when things changed and got potentially dangerous, the window had to go so the crew could get little Brandon out. This was done quickly and efficiently, so overall it was a very good result and thankfully there were no injuries.”

Matt is positive that his crew did ‘the right thing’ that day, and has received some great feedback from the public after their story went viral.

He added: “If people don’t like the fact that we are paid to do what we have to do, then they’ll just have to get over it. That’s what we’re here to do, and we did a good job.”