Five calm, practical steps that can get you back inside faster — and stop a lockout from turning into a damaged door.
It always happens at the worst moment — the door clicks shut behind you, and your keys are sitting on the kitchen table. Before you start shouldering the door (please don't), here are the things worth trying, in order, and when it's genuinely time to call us.
1. Stop and check the obvious
Is there a back door, a patio door, or a window left on the latch? More lockouts than you'd think end with someone remembering the kitchen window doesn't quite close. Check every door and ground-floor window before anything else — calmly, so a worried neighbour doesn't mistake you for an intruder.
2. Find out who else has a key
A partner, a housemate, a parent, the neighbour you gave a spare to "just in case". A 15-minute wait for someone to drive over with a key is almost always cheaper and less stressful than anything else. If you're a tenant, your landlord or letting agent may hold a spare too.
3. Don't force it
This is the big one. A credit card only works on the simplest spring latches, and on a modern uPVC or composite door it does nothing but snap. Kicking the door risks the frame, the hinges and your shoulder. Forcing a euro cylinder can turn a £-something cylinder swap into a full door repair. The damage almost always costs more than the callout you were trying to avoid.
4. Know what kind of lock you're dealing with
When you call, we'll ask a couple of quick questions: is it a Yale-style latch, a key-operated mortice, or a uPVC door with a multipoint mechanism (the kind you lift the handle to lock)? A rough answer helps us bring the right tools and gives you a more accurate ETA on the phone. A photo on WhatsApp is even better.
5. Call a local, vetted locksmith — not a national call centre
Plenty of "locksmith" numbers online are call centres that subcontract to whoever's nearest, with a low headline price that climbs once they're on your doorstep. A local, named locksmith gives you a straight answer on the phone and turns up themselves. We're a father-and-son team based in Egham — you get one of us, an ETA before we set off, and a price agreed up front.
Most lockouts are opened with non-destructive entry — no drilling, no new lock needed — so you keep your existing keys working. More on how our emergency callouts work.
Emergency locksmith
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Two Keys is a father-and-son locksmith team in Egham — UKLA Trusted & Vetted, DBS-checked, fully insured. Straight prices, agreed before we set off.
We cover Egham · Staines-upon-Thames · Windsor · Virginia Water and the wider Surrey, west London and east Berkshire area — see full coverage.