Gloucester Subway chain fined after a worker got stuck in a fridge for 8 hours and wrote "Help" in ketchup

The Gloucester branch of sandwich chain Subway was fined over £6,000 today after a worker was trapped overnight in a chiller and tried to escape by writing "help" in ketchup.

Karlee Daubeney was working the late shift alone and shutting down the store when she became trapped.

She put milk away inside the cold store around 11.15pm when the door closed behind her and locked her inside.

Karlee was only wearing trousers and a thin Subway top with the temperature inside the cold room just a few degrees above zero.

When she realised no one else would be coming to her aid she tried to get help with an SOS message in ketchup - hoping it would be spotted on CCTV by security staff.

But it wasn't seen and she remained trapped in the store in the centre of Gloucester until 7.30 the following morning when the day shift arrived and opened up.

The franchise responsible for the store appeared at magistrates in Cheltenham today in connection with the incident.

CM Ventures, who have the franchise for the store, have been charged with health and safety offences.

Speaking after the case, Karlee said: "At first I was in a state of panic and I was looking for anything that could have opened the door.

"I was trying to write 'help' on pieces of cardboard to slide under the door. I think it was with ketchup.

"It got to the stage I was so cold I didn't have the energy to bang on the door and I only had leggings and a Subway top on."

Karlee said she has been left with physical and mental damage from the ordeal and was told she came very close to catching hypothermia.

She added: "My muscles became so cold I found it really hard to walk for a few days, I had migraines and dry skin around my nose.

"When I went to hospital the next day I was told I was close to having hypothermia and I made myself as warm as I could when I got home."