A man was found trapped behind the shutters of a Wilko store after he "'fell asleep" before the metal barriers closed for the night.
Ethan Brahney was heading to work when he heard a confused man pleading for help.
The 22-year-old quickly realised the man was trapped behind the Wilko shutters on Penny Street in Lancaster.
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Ethan asked if the man if he was okay, before the man said he "fell asleep last night and someone locked him in".
To the factory worker's amusement, the man then asked for a cigarette, but he couldn't pass him one because there were no holes in the doorstep's metal shutters.
Ethan then left and said he "felt guilty" but felt the man was surprisingly calm about his predicament and the store was due to open in around an hour anyway.
He believes the man was trapped for around 14 hours from the store's closing time at 5.30pm.
Ethan, from Lancaster, Lancashire, said: "I saw this banging on the gutter and then I stopped and thought this could be gold, so I started filming.
"I felt bad I couldn't give him the cigarette, because if he's in that situation he deserves a niccy rush to take the edge off.
"We could have stayed with the guy until somebody opened up, but we were running late for work. It might seem horrible but the store was opening soon and he didn't sound like he was in any pain.
"I did leave him but I didn't leave him in a menacing way. He sounded fine, and if I was in that situation don't think I'd have been freaking out either. He was away from all the elements.
"If he'd have shown more signs of distress I'd have done more to help him out, but I do feel guilty.
"The thing that shocked me the most is I'm the only person who stopped and paid attention to the guy. Everyone else just seemed to be ignoring him."
When the aspiring musician checked if the man was still there after work, the shutters had been lifted and the man was gone.
Karam Singh simply said: "This is incredible."
Nigel Barnes added: "That right there has made my day."
A Wilko spokesperson said: "There's a metre gap behind the shutters where he sometimes sits and every night they check through a spy hole to make sure nobody’s there before closing the shutters at 5.30/6pm.
"On this occasion however he was sleeping in a blind spot and they didn’t see him.
"The team let him out as soon as they realised what'd happened in the morning at roughly 8am as they hadn’t been made aware any earlier. They invited him into store to check he was okay and apologise.
"We’re planning on looking at additional security for this door to prevent anything like this happening again."
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