A case of mistaken amenity

A young British woman was locked in the town hall of a small French town after mistaking the "hotel de ville" for a "hotel".

The tourist, in her early 30s, posted a rescue message on the inside of the glass door of the hotel de ville (town hall) but no one saw it until the next morning. The woman, who has not been named, spent the night in the building's entrance hall.

The Mayor of Dannemarie in lower Alsace, Paul Rumbach, said the woman assumed the hotel de ville was a hotel. She entered on Friday night local time and used the toilet before asking if there was a room. Meanwhile, committee members left and locked the front door.

"They thought they heard a noise in the toilets but didn't think much of it," the Mayor said.

The woman was liberated by the Mayor the next day after a local chemist noticed the message.

- INDEPENDENT