Emergencies · any hour
Emergency locksmith Novelda, with a voice on the line at four in the morning
Shut out at night, keys gone somewhere between the fiesta and home, a key that has snapped in the lock, a cylinder that will not turn. Ring at whatever hour it is: someone answers, and before the van sets off you hear honestly how long it will take to reach you.
Open 24 hours · 7 days
- Phone answered 24 hours
- Drive time given, not promised
- Price agreed before work starts
The usual reasons
What gets people ringing in the small hours
Almost every call at night is one of a handful of things. Knowing which it is helps the right tools come in the van.
- The door blew or clicked shut with the keys inside. A door that is only latched, not locked with the key, is usually the quickest one to open.
- The keys are lost. In Novelda the week from 19 to 25 July, with the Moros y Cristianos parades and the romería to La Mola on the 20th, is a week of crowds and late nights: an easy one for keys to slip out of a pocket.
- A key has broken in the lock. Common with old cylinders, and a third of Novelda’s buildings date from the 1960s and 70s.
- The lock turns but the door will not open, or the key goes in and will not turn at all.
- Something is cooking or someone needs you inside: say so straight away. If there is smoke, or a person or a child at risk inside, ring 112 first.
If the keys are on the seat of a car rather than the hall table, the page for opening a locked car is the one you want.
When you ring
From the call to the door open
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Tell us where and what
The street, or the partida and the name of the house. What is wrong with the door, and whether anything urgent is waiting inside.
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Hear the drive time
You get an honest estimate from where the van is at that moment. If it is long, you are told, so you can decide.
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The lock is looked at, the price agreed
Once the door has been seen, you are told what it needs and what it costs. Nothing starts until you agree.
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The door is opened, the method chosen for it
Through the latch or the cylinder first. Drilling is the last thing tried, and only with your yes.
Out of hours, honestly
Twenty-four hours a day, and what that means
The phone is answered every hour of every day, weekends and holidays included, and lockouts are attended at night. What it does not mean is a promise to be at your door in a set number of minutes: a call from a house under the Duaime at 3 a.m. and one from the Plaza de España are different drives. You always hear the real estimate first.
Work that can wait until morning, like replacing a lock that still works, is done in normal hours. After the door is open, if the lock is damaged or the keys may be in the wrong hands, a new cylinder can be booked or fitted there and then.
Before the van arrives
While you wait outside
Things worth doing
- Check every other door and window you could safely use, including a back gate.
- Ask whether a neighbour, a relative or the landlord has a key.
- Find something with your address on it, or someone who can vouch for you.
Things best left alone
- Forcing the door with a shoulder or a bar: frames split, and the job gets dearer.
- Pushing wire or a credit card into an armoured door: it will not work and can jam it.
- Putting oil or glue into a lock where a key has broken.
If the door turns out to have been forced rather than shut, it is a different job: repairing a forced door starts with the note for the insurer.
Where
Lockouts anywhere in Novelda and next door
The centre and the barrios of San Roque, La Garrova and the Estación; La Mola; the partidas from the Sit and Beties down to El Campet; El Fondonet and Santa Fe. Also La Romana with l’Algaiat, Aspe and Monóvar. Every place is listed on the partidas and villages page.
Lost your keys on the walk to the sanctuary? There is a note on where keys go missing on 20 July. If something is on the stove inside, read what to do in the first few minutes. Phone, WhatsApp and email are on the contact page.
Questions
Questions from people shut out in Novelda
Is it really somebody on the phone at four in the morning, or a recorded message?
A person. The number is answered around the clock, every day, and the same person tells you whether and when the van can come out. Being reachable at four is not the same as being at your door ten minutes later, and you are told honestly how long the drive is.
My key has snapped and half of it is still in the cylinder. Should I try to pull it out?
Only if a clear piece sticks out and comes away with fingers or tweezers. Do not push anything into the keyway and do not glue anything: the broken half can usually be drawn out whole, and the cylinder often survives if nobody has forced it first.
I lost my keys during the July fiestas. Is changing the cylinder necessary?
If the keys had nothing on them to say where you live, many people simply open the door and keep using the lock. If there was an address tag, a key ring tag showing the car’s number plate, or post with the keys, change the cylinder once you are back inside. That can be done the same visit or booked for later.
The house is in a partida with no street number. How will you find it?
Send a location pin on WhatsApp, or give the name of the partida and the name the house goes by, as country houses in Novelda have always been known. If there is a gate onto the track, say what colour it is.
What do I need to show once the door is open?
Something that links you to the address: an identity document with the address on it, a rental contract, a utility bill, or a neighbour or landlord who can vouch for you. It protects you as much as anyone.
Often next
Jobs that often follow a lockout
Door notes that lead here
On the wrong side of your door tonight?
Ring, say where you are, and you will hear straight away how long the drive will be.
Open 24 hours · 7 days