Two friends got locked in at an Aldi supermarket during what was meant to be a quick shopping trip for bread and milk.
Luke Miller, 25, and Sarah Sinclair, 27, were left desperately trying to escape the store in Redcar, Teesside, after staff accidentally locked them inside.
The pair were browsing the aisles when staff were finishing their shifts and closed the doors, reports the Daily Star.
But it was not until Sarah and her boyfriend's brother Luke got to the check out that they realised everybody else had gone home the day after Boxing Day.
"When we first arrived there were people in there and staff at the checkouts," Sarah said.
"We were just wandering around shopping and didn't pay attention until we went to pay and I started to think 'where's the staff'?
"Then we noticed a beeping but at the time I just wanted my bread and milk so I hadn't thought anything of it. I had barely even noticed the sound."
Luke and Sarah were trapped inside for 30 minutes and managed to get out via a fire escape after calling 101.
But they saw the funny side of their 'accidental lock-in' and there was no suggestion of any wrongdoing on behalf of Aldi staff.
Sarah said: "We started looking around. I turned to Luke and he said 'oh no'. We couldn't believe it and I was laughing so hard I thought I'd pee until I started thinking 'but what do we actually do?'.
"When all the doors were locked, I started thinking I'd have to open a drink off the shelf.
"But I also thought about how there would probably be a bed among the stuff in the middle aisle so we'd be ok!
"Eventually Luke called 101 and the police told us to try the fire doors - we ended up having to go into the stock room at the back to find one that opened, and finally we got out.
"The manager called Luke into the store in the following days and gave him a bunch of flowers and a crate of lager as an apology.
"At the time we had no idea what would happen but looking back we just find it funny.
"I have no idea how it happened and how nobody saw us in there because we weren't hiding - but we got out in the end."
Luke said the store manager called him into the store the day later, and gave him a bunch of flowers and a create of lager as an apology.
The Mirror Online has contacted Aldi for comment.
