Man rescued by firefighters after forcing his way into Milton Keynes launderette for Christmas Day wash

The owner of a laundrette called Soapy Suds is in a right lather after a customer decided to do a lunchtime wash - on Christmas day.

The man got locked in after the doors slammed shut.

And his panicking partner had to call the fire service out to rescue him by sawing through the hefty locks.

The bizarre incident put a real dampener on the Christmas of Soapy Suds owner Dawn Lavis and her partner Peter Evans.

They had closed the laundrette, based at MK Marina on Peartree Bridge, for two days over Christmas and put a large sign on the door stating when it would re-open.

“Dawn goes in a couple of times a week to do service washes, but the rest of the time we open and shut the doors remotely,” said Peter.

“We’re open between 6am and 9pm and customers call us for a code to get in between those times.”

CCTV footage shows a man, woman and small child approach the laundrette at around 1.30pm on Christmas Day. Clutching a bundle of washing, they tried the doors but couldn’t get in.

“The woman kept on and on banging away at the doors. She wasn’t going to give up. She carried on until the locks gave way,” said Peter.

The man entered the laundrette, then clearly panicked when the doors shut again.

“The first we knew was when the fire service called us and said they’d had to break in to free him,” said Peter.

He now faces a £900 repair bill and is calling for the trespassers to be prosecuted and made to pay compensation

Earlier this year a burglar broke into Soapy Suds by forcing the heavy locks. He was arrested and prosecuted by police for several burglaries and got a sentence of six months imprisonment.

MK firefighters had one other call out on Christmas Day. That was to deal with a flood from a water leak in a house in Teasel Avenue on Conniburrow.