A bank customer was locked inside a branch for nearly five hours after the door slammed shut behind him.
The man entered Metrobank in High Street, Uxbridge to withdraw money at 6am yesterday (Sunday, November 23), but the door locked behind him, leaving him trapped.
The bank has an out of hours policy allowing customers to enter their card at the front door and then use it on a cash machine inside the building.
Sana Khan, 34, said he turned up to work to open Costa Coffee next door and saw the man enter the bank.
But the customer then began waving frantically to him as he was unable to leave.
Mr Khan said: "He tried the handle of the door but it just wouldn't open.
"He slid his card through a small gap between the doors but when I tried it, the door still wouldn't open.
"I chatted to him and he seemed perfectly calm and relaxed and, when Metrobank's customer service department opened, I rang them and told them of the problem."
He said an engineer finally turned up at around 9.45am but was also unable to open the door.
Mr Khan added: "It was about an hour after that that another member of staff turned up to open up the branch for the day's trading and the man was able to leave."
A Metrobank spokeswoman said: "We are looking into what happened and we have reached out to the man."
Metrobank is open seven days a week for 362 days a year and only closes on Christmas Day, Easter Sunday and New Year’s Day.
It opened its first branch in central London four years ago and now has 25 outlets around the country.
It aims to have 200 branches in operation by 2020.
As well as traditional banking services, it says customers can open an account within 15 minutes of applying.
It has cash counting machines and even offers water and dog biscuits to customers who bring their canine companions.
