Lincolnshire, UK – An 11-year-old child who was diagnosed with autism was left trapped inside a library in Horncastle. The young boy, who was visiting with his parents from New Zealand, was accidentally locked up in the premises which closes 4pm daily.
Rewi White, who loves reading books, stopped by the Horncastle Library to have a few good reads before a scheduled visit to his uncle who lives nearby. Rewi apparently became too engaged in a book he was reading and hadn’t noticed that the library staff had already turned off the lights, announcing that they were about to close.
His mother, Samantha, felt something was wrong when Rewi hadn’t showed up at his uncle’s place an hour after the library was scheduled to close. She immediately made contact with the police, but also decided to check the library to see if Rewi, by any chance, was still there. Sure enough, she saw her son look out the window when she tried to knock. The authorities tried to make contact with the library’s key holder, but the contact information they had in possession were apparently outdated.
It wasn’t until a councillor for Horncastle, Bill Aron, arrived at the scene that Rewi was able to let himself out the district library. Aron helped Rewi find a key to the premises that was stored inside the library.
Although Samantha was relieved that Rewi was able to get out of Horncastle library safely, she felt that there was a lapse in the part of the library’s management. She told:
“I really hope LCC (Lincolnshire City Council) review their locking up procedure and their key holder records as this was a completely unacceptable solution, we had an hour of worry because staff left without doing a complete check of the building.”
The original article on the Horncastle News website can be read here