IT all started as a normal day for Claire Riding and her 20-month-old son, Jack.

But when he threw his toy tractor around in the car, things took a turn for the worse.

For the mischievous toddler managed to lock himself in the Volkswagen Golf when the toy landed on his mother’s car keys, accidentally triggering the central locking system.

And there was no way of getting to him, as the keys were on the driver’s seat. Despite frantic attempts, Mrs Riding could not get into the car so she dialled 999.

“I tried to break the back passenger window with a brick, but it kept bouncing back,” she said. “When the window eventually broke, the car went to deadlock mode and I could not reach the keys anyway.”

Mrs Riding and Jack were preparing for a trip to the supermarket when the incident happened She put her keys on the driver’s seat as she strapped him into his seat, and closed the passenger door to walk round to the other side of the car.

In those few seconds, Jack threw his tractor, which hit the key fob and automatically locked all the doors.

The drama happened in Chapel Street, Belmont, at 10am on Friday.

Mrs Riding, aged 30, of High Street, Belmont, said: “The house keys were attached to the car keys so I couldn’t get the spare set and I just panicked. I did not know what to do.”

She phoned her husband, who was at work in Leigh, and then went to get help from a resident who lived nearby.

Mrs Riding added: “A really nice woman came to help me and she brought a fishing rod to try to hook the keys out, but we couldn’t get them because of the angle.”

Firefighters managed to free the toddler, using a coat hanger to reach the keys. Spokesman Paul Duggan said: “We are equipped to deal with a wide spectrum of incidents and, in this case, we released Jack quickly.”