‘I was charged £1,406 after my key snapped in my door’: how to protect against locksmith fraud

One young woman had to find £1,406 when a key broke in the lock and two men refused to leave until she paid

A key snapped in the lock as my son and his young babysitter tried to open my front door. The babysitter searched online and called a locksmith quoting a £49 call-out charge.

The locksmith claimed the key could not be extracted and insisted the entire locking mechanism had failed and would need to be repaired at his workshop, at a cost of around £400.