YOU'D think most people would notice if three firemen walked into their bedroom at night - but not little Lauren Bridle.

When her mum Nicola found she couldn't open the five-year-old's bedroom door at night, she called the fire brigade to force their way in - and Lauren slept the whole way through!

Nicola, 23, of Octavia Road, Swaythling, said: "We didn't know what to do. I just went upstairs to go to bed and to check on Lauren and I couldn't get into the room.

"We spent ages trying to get the door open and even took the handle off - usually when you do that you can manoeuvre it by hand, but the actual mechanism was broken.''

So Nicola called Swaythling Housing Association, who in turn called St Mary's Fire Station.

"We thought it was quite funny - just to get a door open - but we tried everything and of course we couldn't leave her in there," said Nicola.

"The fire brigade were here within minutes and they were very good. We said 'she's in there, you've got to be quiet because we don't want to scare her'.

"They used a crowbar - which is not normally a quiet thing - but they were really quiet. It was brilliant, she didn't even wake up!"

And when Lauren, of Octavia Road, Swaythling, Southampton, woke the next morning to go to Mansbridge Junior School, she couldn't believe she'd missed out on all the action.

Nicola added: "She didn't really believe me - I'm forever teasing her so she thought I was teasing! It is quite unbelievable really."