Locked out? What to do before you call a locksmith

Being locked out is stressful, and stress is exactly the condition that rogue traders rely on. Before reaching for your phone, a short pause and a few practical checks can save you both money and a bad experience — because the emergency locksmith trade, precisely because people call it in a panic, is also where most reported problems in the industry turn up.

Start with the obvious. Check every other door and accessible window before assuming you need a locksmith at all — a back door, side gate or an upstairs window left on the latch has solved more than one lockout without a single call being made. If you live with other people or have given a spare key to a neighbour, relative or letting agent, that call is free and usually faster than any locksmith can arrive.

If you rent your home, check your tenancy agreement or contact your landlord or letting agent before arranging anything yourself — many tenancy agreements set out who is responsible for lockouts and whether the cost can be recovered, and getting this wrong can mean paying for a locksmith unnecessarily. If you have home emergency cover as part of a buildings or contents insurance policy, it is also worth checking whether a locksmith call-out is already included before you pay for one separately.

Search results for "emergency locksmith" in most UK towns are dominated by paid adverts and national call-centre operations rather than local tradespeople, and this is precisely where problems arise. Which? and multiple local Trading Standards teams have repeatedly warned about rogue locksmith call-out firms: customers quoted a low headline price who are then charged hugely inflated sums once a locksmith is on site — cases running from a few hundred pounds to several thousand have been reported to the Master Locksmiths Association. Because locksmiths are not licensed or regulated by the government in the UK, anyone can call themselves one, which makes it easier for these operations to trade under several different local-sounding names.

The way this specific scam usually plays out is fairly consistent, and recognising the pattern can help you spot it in the moment: an advert or online listing promises a call-out for a token sum, often under £20 or £30, well below the typical market rate; a locksmith arrives, inspects the lock, and declares that the job is more complex than expected — perhaps claiming a "high-security" lock needs replacing — before quoting a price many times higher than originally advertised. Because you are often locked out and keen to get back inside, the pressure to simply agree in the moment is exactly what these operators are counting on. Knowing this pattern in advance makes it much easier to pause, ask questions, or even call a second locksmith for comparison, rather than agreeing under pressure.

A little research before you are actually locked out is far more effective than trying to vet a company while standing on your own doorstep. Look for a locksmith with a genuine local landline or a fixed business address, rather than only a mobile number and a national-sounding freephone line. Membership of the Master Locksmiths Association, which vets, inspects and qualifies its approved members, is a reasonable marker of legitimacy — we cover how to check this properly in our guide to finding a trustworthy emergency locksmith.

Whoever you call, ask for a price — or at least a clear estimate — before any work begins, and get it confirmed again once the locksmith has actually assessed the lock in person. A legitimate locksmith will not be offended by this question. One who refuses to discuss price until the job is finished, or who quotes a very low figure over the phone that changes dramatically on arrival, is a clear warning sign.

Ask specifically whether non-destructive entry is possible. Many lockouts, particularly with standard cylinder locks, can be resolved by picking or manipulating the lock rather than drilling it out, which avoids the additional cost of a full lock replacement afterwards. Drilling is sometimes genuinely necessary — high-security cylinders and some UPVC mechanisms can make non-destructive entry impractical — but it should be explained, not simply assumed, before it happens.

Once you are back inside, keep the invoice, check it matches what was agreed, and consider whether the lock needs upgrading if it was picked or damaged. If you would rather not be searching for a locksmith for the first time in the middle of an emergency, our directory lists locksmiths covering towns and cities across the UK, so you know who to call before you actually need one.

Frequently asked questions