I really shouldn’t laugh because I know the people involved, but this is a funny tale.
Last night two locals – perhaps influenced by a beer or two – noticed that the shutters weren’t completely closed on a former shop on Coldharbour Lane.
Keen to take a look inside and photograph the soon-to-be-demolished building, they hopped in and wandered around.
Once inside, they stumbled about in the dark before finding a light switch. They turned it on to get a better view, but this only caused the shop shutters to come crashing down to the ground and the lights to fuse completely.
Now trapped inside in the pitch black shop, our intrepid pair found themselves in a right pickle. All attempts to lift up the shutters failed, and even a bold bid to escape through a ventilator – just like what happens in the movies – failed miserably.
So they found themselves resigned to their fate, and ended up spending something like 16 hours trapped inside the windowless building.
Despite the best efforts of passers by in the morning, the heavy shutters remained resolutely stuck to the ground, so in desperation the police were called.
We arrived just as the police van pulled up around 1.30pm this afternoon, and witnessed baffled officers trying to make sense of the situation. Eventually, the fire brigade was brought into action and the entombed duo were finally freed.
After being asked questions by the police – who quickly realised that they weren’t a tag team of master criminals but just hopelessly inept explorers – the Brixton Two were released without charge and they quickly headed to the nearest pub to recover.
We salute the Brixton Two!