More readers come out of the closet

Karen Kilgour with 14-month-old Harry. Photo / Steven McNicholl

The story of Karen Kilgour's 14-month-old son Harry accidentally locking her in his bedroom wardrobe for seven hours has made headlines around the world, including in Australia, Singapore, South Africa, the US, Norway and France.

But getting locked in your own closet doesn't appear to be a rare occurrence in this country and several Herald readers have been inspired to share their own tales of being trapped.

In the case of another mischievous youngster, Clare of Glendowie was busy sorting her 2-year-old son's wardrobe when he closed the door behind her.

"I wasn't overly concerned as he approached and pushed the door shut as there is a handle on the inside."

But when Clare went to turn the handle nothing happened.

"It just turned in my hand! It was incorrectly fitted."

She tried shouting and banging on the door, but her partner was in the living area working on his laptop with the dishwasher and the television going.

"I asked my little one to try and open his bedroom door, but he said he couldn't get out of bed because of the sharks in the sea (his bed is his boat)."

After a lot of shouting and banging, he went to the bedroom door but couldn't reach the handle so started shouting, "daddy, mummy is locked in the cupboard".

About half an hour later her partner thought he heard something and came to check on the pair.

"My partner thought that I had fallen asleep with our son in his bed. Aren't they just lovely!"

Ruth Robinson of Torbay, a recent widow of self-described "senior status", had just extended a closet in her bedroom to create a walk-in wardrobe. She became trapped in there stark naked while getting ready for a choir performance.

There was no handle on the inside so she could not get the door open. Eventually she managed to squeeze through a small door at the top of the wardrobe.