"One job I got was barking mad"

"On the face of it the job looked like a straightforward lockout. Routine stuff really, or so I thought.

"I arrived at the hair salon where the car was located and went in to meet the owner of both the car and the salon. When I asked her what had happened to her car keys, she said that she had accidentally flushed them down the toilet. I decided not to delve any further. I then asked if she had a spare set at home. Her reply was equally bizarre. Apparently she was play wrestling with her dog when the spare keys fell onto the floor and, in its excitement, the dog picked them up and swallowed them. In any case, her house keys were also in the car. Then a thought hit me.

"Outside, next to the salon was a large manhole cover. Maybe, just maybe.

"I approached a builder who was working nearby and asked if he had anything that could lift the cover. Luckily he did, and once we removed the cover I shone my torch inside and there were the keys. Unfortunately, it was a long way down and I’m not that tall. But the builder was.

"Donning a pair of protective gloves from the salon, he went down head first – with me holding his ankles – and retrieved them. That job was definitely a dirty one, as well as mad."

Daniel Horrocks, AA Technician