A MOTHER had to call out the fire brigade yesterday after she locked herself out of the house with her baby inside.

The woman had popped out of her new home for a split second when the door swung shut behind and locked tight, with her nine-month-old daughter inside.

With the help of neighbours, she tried to get back inside the house - in the executive Highgate development on Framwellgate Peth, Durham City - before calling the fire brigade.

A crew from Durham City used ladders to reach a firstfloor window on the three-storey townhouse, where a firefighter was able to open a sash window and clamber inside.

Watch manager Andrew Allison said: "They are new townhouses and I am not sure she was familiar with the locks. She only stepped out for a second and it may have been that there was a window open and the wind blew the door shut behind her.

"She was getting a little bit tearful, but we managed to get in within a couple of minutes and she was over the moon.

"The baby was in a buggy in the reception hall and never even flickered throughout the whole business. I don't think she even knew about it."