AA unlocks the door on kids and pets

ANDREW GORRIE/ The Dominion Post

LOCKED IN: Ciara Main-Grant, 23 months, was trapped inside the family car after her brother Angus, 7, outside right, accidentally locked her in he closed the door.

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A momentary mix-up was all it took for Rachel Main's 23-month-old daughter to get locked in a car.

Ms Main's call to the Automobile Association was one of more than 1600 pleas to rescue children and pets from locked cars in the past 12 months.

"We've been concerned for some time. It's too many," AA Roadservice national manager John Healy said. "Our message is when you are leaving your vehicle, make sure you have your keys with you."

Ms Main said she had parked at a friend's place on November 10, and went in to pick up her daughter Holly. Her seven-year-old son then locked and shut the door, not realising his sister Ciara was still in the car, with the keys in the ignition.

"We tried to open the door with a coat handle, then we tried to get her to unlock the door. That didn't work, so we called the AA."

They arrived and opened the door within 20 minutes.

"I wasn't too worried, it was a cool day," Ms Main said.

The AA took 918 calls to help rescue children and 759 calls to save pets in the year to November 30.

With Christmas approaching, people will be busy and even more prone to locking their children or pets in cars, Mr Healy said.

As temperatures rose over summer, it was possible the heat inside a locked car could kill a child or pet.

"The temperature inside a vehicle with no ventilation can rise rapidly. It doesn't take long before children and pets suffer the effects of heat exhaustion."

With modern vehicles, it was no longer a case of simply prising open locked doors with a coat hanger.

"Some European cars have a deadlocking system which can require us to smash a window."

The AA made lockout calls a priority, Mr Healy said. If they were delayed, the Fire Service was called.

In June this year a four-month-old boy died after being locked in his father's car at a San Francisco rail station.

- © Fairfax NZ News