Security guard locked in vehicle for one hour

Despite an electronic voice shouting 'Help, help G4S driver requires assistance. Call the police' from the vehicle, blase Ballymoney folk simply looked on or walked passed.

Claire Smith, Deputy Editor from the Ballymoney and Moyle Times explained: "It was a lovely sunny day and I had the window open in the office. However at about lunchtime on Wednesday I became aware of this really annoying electronic voice from outside calling for help. When I looked out I saw a blue security van parked outside the Ulster Bank.

"I watched it for a few minutes but no one seemed to be bothered and no one appeared in distress. Shoppers simply looked on or walked passed, so I just continued to do my work.

"Then after about nearly an hour of this lady's voice beeping and calling for help I looked out the window again but nothing had changed - people were continuing their shopping and still going in and out of the bank. So I just closed the window.

"However about 10 minutes later two police cars with flashing blue lights arrived on the scene.

"The three officers then inspected the vehicle and discovered that the security guard had been locked inside the back of the van all that time."

Speaking to the Times one eye witness said: "That's technology for you. I believe the guard was making a delivery to Ulster Bank and the van just shut down and lock him in.

"He's been in there for over an hour, poor fella. It seems not one person called it in and came to his rescue. I think it was the annoying noise that made someone ring the police. Talk about the community being on red security alert!"

Inspector David Anderson from Ballymoney Police Station confirmed: "Officers responded to a call from a member of the public who reported an alarm sounding off from a van on Church Street on Wednesday afternoon.

"Officers attended the scene within seconds and immediately resolved the situation. An inquiry showed that the issue was with the van's alarm system and there were no suggestions of any criminal activity."

However the noisy saga didn't end there for the Church Street community!

"As the van had shut down completely officers couldn't even switch the voice off nor drive the vehicle away," a Church Street businessman revealed. So we had to wait another hour for a pick up truck to come from Belfast to tow it away. Talk about giving everybody one big headache."

A G4S Cash Solutions (UK) spokesperson: "We can confirm that there was a minor incident involving one of our vehicles in Ballymoney on Wednesday 10th March 2010.

"One of our vehicles suffered an extremely rare technical fault that caused it to deploy its security protocols, locking the doors to protect the cash consignment and subsequently locking the driver on board.

"The driver alerted our national control centre to the vehicle breakdown and our recovery procedure of the vehicle was already underway when a member of the public reported the incident to the police.

"We try to avoid calling on the police unless necessary as police forces across the country already provide great support to the cash in transit industry.

"In this instance there was no risk to members of the public or to our employees."