MANCHESTER · EMERGENCY LINE ANSWERED 24 HOURS
Locked out, or locked in a lock you no longer trust.
Non-destructive entry, insurance-grade lock fitting and master-key suites. We are the people who pin the cylinder, not the people who sell you a new door.
£69 24/7 lockout — no call-out fee
Median arrival 20–50 minutes across the districts we cover · see the list
The shear line
A plug turns inside a shell. Every chamber holds a key pin under a driver pin under a spring, and the plug only moves when the joint between those two pins sits on the boundary between plug and shell — in all six chambers at once.
The key does it with arithmetic. A cut of bitting b sits one increment 0.023 in shallower for each number up; the key pin that rides on it is one increment longer. The two cancel, so the joint lands at the same height whatever the cut — and that height is where the shear line is.
State: turning
- chamber 1 cut 4 lift 0.243 in
- chamber 2 cut 7 lift 0.174 in
- chamber 3 cut 2 lift 0.289 in
- chamber 4 cut 6 lift 0.197 in
- chamber 5 cut 3 lift 0.266 in
- chamber 6 cut 8 lift 0.151 in
The same cylinder, a key cut two numbers out
Five of the six joints are on the line. Position 4 is cut 2 numbers deeper than this lock is pinned, so that stack rises 0.046 in short and its driver pin stays across the shear line. The plug does not move, the bolt stays in the keep, and nothing about the other five matters.
This is why a key that almost works does not work, and why a worn key that has been turning for a year eventually stops on a cold morning. It is also why we pick locks rather than drill them: the shear line can be found one chamber at a time.
How a master key gets a second shear linePublished prices
The full list| Job | From | Basis | On site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lockout — non-destructive entry | £69 | first hour, parts at cost | 25–50 min on site |
| Euro cylinder change | £95 | fitted, one cylinder | 20 min |
| Five-lever mortice to BS 3621 | £145 | fitted, timber door | 60–90 min |
| Rekey an existing cylinder | £45 | per cylinder | 15 min at the bench |
Where we go, and how long it takes
- Salford and Ordsall 20 min
- City centre 25 min
- Hulme and Moss Side 30 min
- Prestwich and Whitefield 35 min
- Eccles and Worsley 35 min
- Stretford and Urmston 40 min
Median arrival from the call being answered, over 1,140 emergency jobs in 2025. We quote the median rather than the best, because the best is not what you get at two in the morning.
Every district and postcode
From the logbook
All entries-
2026-07-30 · Emergency
The key snapped in the lock. Leave the stub where it is.
A broken key comes out in ten minutes if nobody has touched it, and in an hour and a new cylinder if somebody has been at it with pliers.
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2026-06-18 · Locks
Anti-snap cylinders snap. That is the whole idea.
A three-star cylinder is designed to break in a controlled place, leaving the part that does the locking behind. Half the ones we see were fitted wrong.
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2026-05-09 · Master keying
Charting a suite for eleven doors, and the one we left out
A unit in Eccles wanted one key for the manager and eleven for everyone else. The interesting decision was which door never went on the chart.