Texas man rescued from locked ATM after slipping 'help me' notes through receipt slot

'We have a once in a lifetime situation that you will probably never see or hear about again'

KRIS TV (KRIS TV)

A Texas man who got locked inside an ATM room slipped “help me” notes through a receipt slot to be rescued.

The contractor was doing routine maintenance work in a Bank of America branch in Corpus Christi, Texas, when the door accidentally closed behind him on Wednesday afternoon.

According to local police, he was changing an electronic lock inside the room that connected to the machine, but had left his phone inside his truck.

Senior Officer Richard Olden told local news agency KRIS TV that when people stopped by to withdraw cash, the worker decided to slip out SOS notes through the receipt slot.

One read: “Please help. I’m stuck in here, and I don’t have my phone. Please call my boss.”

Several passers-by took it as a joke until one customer eventually realised what was going on, and the police and the contractor's supervisor arrived.

“Sure enough, we could hear a little voice coming from inside the machine, and thought “this has got to be a joke,”” Olden said.

The police then kicked the door down to rescue the man.

It is not known how long the contractor was trapped inside.

“So everybody’s OK, but you’ll never see this again in your life," said Olden. "It was just crazy.”

A similar incident occurred in 2014 when a security guard found himself locked inside an ATM in Essex.