It alwaysd happens on a weekend

Wrong models.

Are they not all hatchbacks or estates with folding rear seats? Isn?t it possible to drop the seat backs from inside the car?

Tim

the lid closed.

Seems not all spec levels have folding seats (surprised me).

Can't comment specifically on the model, but I doubt if there is a steel bulkhead on a non-folding seat model. Where there is steel (as in non-hatchbacks) it is not usually solid but it may have an X-brace with arm-sized holes in it. Obviously, it's a spanner job to remove the seats.

Locally, we have a locksmith wizard who will come out any time for a surprisingly reasonable fee. Also, he can programme all sorts of remote keys. Someone recently posted on FB that they had a stuck car with no key at all, the main agent was insisting it would have to be recovered on a transporter, overall timescale several days and cost near a grand. Our man did it inside an hour at a fifth of their price (including replacement key).

At that age, are the keys anything unusual? If not, then any locksmith or half competent thief would have it open in seconds. It might take me a few minutes.

Even if you can't put the seats down, is there a small hatch in the middle for long items? Also known as a ski hatch.

Try the ?bump key? method, at least if it is a conventional key with ?notches? on the edge.

Find a key which fits the lock, ie goes in ( from another car). Insert and turn slightly. Keeping the key turned, wriggle it out. I was shown the technique years ago when I locked my keys in the car.

It is the same principle a lock picking and the electric / mechanical lock picks.

No good for secure locks but simple pin locks, which use side cut keys, can often by opened. I?ve not done it in years and only on my own locks etc !

The other option is the RAC/AA. They used to help. I assume they still do.

I don't think I've had such a car key since I had a Ford Cortina Mk3 rust bucket - and which could be opened with my neighbours car key :)

Better than my parents' Vauxhall Victor - I could open that with the blade of my mini pocket penknife!

For less than £20 I'd expect all uk.d-i-y-ers to own a set of picks.

(As always best to keep it to yourself though)

I recently managed to save my company a few quid by opening a locked comms cabinet that no one could find a key for (office had been unlet for

Or the Austin Maxi, that the right sized nail file would open. I do often wonder with all the modern technology why they don't use some biometric system, since there do seem to be a lot of eastern Europeans wandering the streets recording radio opener codes. Brian

I'm not much good at it, but I had a colleague who definitely had "the touch" (and he could do ordinary office locks with a bent paperclip and a screwdriver). For those with a taste for physics, there are some fascinating descriptions of more advanced techniques in Richard Feynman's books. Although relatively junior in administrative terms in the Manhatten Project, he learned how to crack "dial-type" safes, ultimately including the ones that held the biggest project secrets (this is the numeric data and engineering design, rather than the basic physics).

It's a hatchback, don't the rear seats fold down?

Opps, was suggested ...

Has it got central locking?

I once had a Beetle, 1963 ISTR, which could be locked by pushing the button and holding the external handle open when closing the door. Very convenient. Too bloody convenient. In the end I could open it in about 30 sec with a wire coat hanger straightened out and slipped in round the door seal and used to flip up the lock button

Around 1979, I had one of the first Ford Fiestas (finished in that distinctive Venetian Red). It was possible to lock the driver's door while outside the car by pulling out the handle then pushing down the little interior catch before closing.

I once did that by muscle memory at a service area on the M6. Then I saw the keys dangling out of the ignition lock.

I turned and saw a Venetian Red Cortina Mk IV approaching the area and when it stopped, I asked the driver if he would try his key in the Fiesta.

It opened the driver's door without any difficulty.

Not uncommon, a mate of mine drove all the way home from work in a Hillman Imp before realising "this is a bit cleaner than when I left it" and discovered he'd taken someone else's.

:-) vbg

I one got into a Citron Berlingo that was not mine due to a hangover and bad lighting.