Locked out of your business premises?

What to do right now

1. Check who else holds keys. A business usually has more keyholders than a house: a partner, a manager, a cleaner, a landlord, a neighbouring unit. Two phone calls are cheaper than a call-out.
2. Check your alarm. If forcing or opening the door will trigger a monitored alarm, know the code and the alarm company's number before anyone opens anything, or you will be explaining yourself to a keyholding service.
3. Do not force a shutter. Roller shutters bend, and a bent shutter stops being a shutter. The repair is considerably more than the lockout.
4. Work out which door is the problem. A front shutter, a glazed shopfront door, a rear fire exit and an internal office door are four different jobs. Fire exits in particular are designed to open only from inside.
5. Have your authority to hand. A business lease or rental agreement, a utility bill in the business name, headed paper, or your name on the company record. A locksmith who opens commercial premises for whoever is standing there is a risk to every business on the street.
6. Call with the address, the door and the lock type. Where it is, what the door is made of, what kind of lock, and whether there is a shutter in front of it.

What it costs

Emergency entry is listed from £132. Call-out is charged on arrival and varies by time of day; labour is charged from a minimum of one hour, then in 30-minute increments. Every rate is published on the pricing page, including evenings, nights and weekends — which is when most commercial lockouts actually happen.

Commercial work can take longer than domestic for honest reasons: shutter locks, multi-lock shopfront doors, fire exits and alarmed doors all add time. Where a lock has to be replaced afterwards, the published service prices apply — a euro cylinder from £120, a mortice lock or deadlock from £156.

Proof of authority, and why it is not optional

For a house, a locksmith asks for evidence that you live there. For commercial premises the same principle applies and matters more: the contents are usually worth more, the number of people with a plausible-sounding claim is larger, and a disgruntled former employee or a subtenant in dispute can sound entirely convincing on the telephone.

What works as evidence: a lease or licence to occupy, a utility or rates bill in the business name, headed stationery with your name on it, your name as a director or partner on the public company record, or a landlord or managing agent who will confirm it by phone. It takes a minute and it protects you more than it inconveniences you.

Getting trading again, and afterwards

The immediate job is access. The second job is making sure you are not in the same position next week. A business that has been locked out once usually has an underlying cause: a single set of keys, a cylinder that has been stiff for months, a shutter lock that was never serviced, or no arrangement for who opens up when the usual keyholder is away.

Worth considering once you are back inside: a spare set held by a second keyholder, keyed-alike cylinders so one key covers front, rear and internal doors, a master key system where different staff need different access, and a planned service on the doors that are used hardest. All of it is cheaper booked at daytime rates than dealt with at seven on a Saturday morning.

Commercial lockouts across Lancashire

commercial lockouts in Preston · Blackburn · Blackpool · Burnley · Lancaster · Chorley · Fleetwood · all service areas

Common questions

Can you open a shop with a roller shutter?

Often, but tell us there is a shutter when you call, because it changes the job and the time it takes. Shutter locks and ground locks are a different problem from the door behind them. Please do not try to lever a shutter yourself — a bent shutter is a much larger bill than a lockout.

What proof do you need that the business is mine?

A lease or licence to occupy, a bill in the business name, headed paper, or your name on the public company record. A landlord or managing agent willing to confirm it by telephone also works. Expect to be asked; it is the same protection that stops someone else being let into your premises.

Can you come out before we open in the morning?

The line is answered 24 hours a day, every day. Early-morning and weekend work is charged at the published out-of-hours rates, which are on the pricing page and are confirmed on the phone before anyone is dispatched. No fixed arrival time is promised.

Can staff have different levels of access?

Yes, that is what a master key system does: one key opens everything, while individual keys open only particular doors. It is planned work rather than an emergency fix, and it is worth setting up properly. Mention it when the immediate problem is dealt with.

Related help

• Emergency locksmith
• Lock replacement
• Lock drilling and destructive entry
• Snapped key extraction

Locked out of your house · Locked out at night · Key snapped in the lock · uPVC door won't lock