Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.You head into university to collect an essay and find you’ve been locked in the building. What do you do? Get some celebrities involved to help seal your freedom, of course.
That’s exactly what happened to Brighton University student Emily Rycroft who, on Monday evening, visited the campus to pick up some work which she had submitted earlier.
When the philosophy, politics and ethics student visited the bathroom thinking she had five minutes to spare before the building closed up, she emerged to find she had, in fact, been locked in.
Speaking with BBC News, the student said she called her mum, Gillian Rycroft, who thought she was joking. However, her mum - who lives a five-hour drive away - took to Twitter and pleaded with some famous faces to raise awareness and help in the effort to set her daughter free.
BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine and Radio 1 presenter Jo Whiley - who have over 800,000 Twitter followers between them - set about retweeting Mrs Rycroft’s message which eventually caught the eye of university security staff and key holders.
Mrs Rycroft said: “I did ring all of the university numbers and 101 - but they couldn’t locate a key holder - before resorting to Twitter.”
All in all, Ms Rycroft reportedly spent around two hours inside the university’s Pavilion Parade campus building before being let out “to feel the air again.”
A university spokesperson told BBC News that, as soon as security staff were alerted to the incident, they “attended and released the student.”
The spokesperson added: “The building was being locked a little earlier than usual and we apologise for any distress this may have caused the student and her family.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments