Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Police dog handler locks herself in kennel

A police dog handler at Gatwick Airport had to be rescued from a kennel after accidentally locking herself inside. WPC Beverly Webber crawled into the kennel to "rearrange a blanket" after driving home following a shift with Ellie, a bomb detection dog.

As she sorted out the dog's bedding the wind blew the kennel door shut - trapping her inside. She was unable to force the door open and instead had to call her husband, who was asleep in bed as it was after midnight, to come to her rescue.

WPC Webber said: "I had just finished my shift at Gatwick Airport and was driving home in the dark with my dog Ellie. As I do every night I took her from the car to her kennel in the garden. As I did so I saw that her blanket was out of place, so I went in the kennel to sort it out." But the door then slammed shut after being caught by a gust of wind, leaving WPC Webber trapped inside and Ellie stranded outside in the rain.

"The bad weather managed to blow the kennel door shut - securing the latch in place as well," she added. "I was well and truly stuck. I realised that I would have no option but to face the embarrassment of calling my husband.

"Luckily I had my mobile phone on me so I gave him a call and after laughing at me for a good 10 minutes he came to let me out."

She told Police Review: "When I went into work the next day I decided to tell the rest of my unit my embarrassing story. Once I finished telling them, my sergeant turned around and admitted that the same thing had happened to him. Clearly it is something of an occupational hazard."

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