No one can blame shop staff for being keen to get home on a Saturday afternoon. But when they're so eager to leave that they shut up shop while their customers are still inside, something is very wrong indeed.

Yet that's what happened at the weekend, when salesmen at the Hylton car showroom in St John's, Worcester, left the cars of two sets of shoppers trapped on the premises.

One elderly couple had to abandon their vehicle and call friends to come and rescue them, while the other captive customers staged a daring escape by building a ramp which let them drive over a wall to freedom.

Really, this should never have happened. As anyone who has worked in a retail establishment knows, there is a sequence to be followed at closing time. And somewhere in between cashing up, turning off the lights and locking the door comes: Make sure all the customers have left.

But it is the way these customers were treated when the mistake was discovered that really irks.

A staff member tracked down by police said he'd had too much to drink to drive back to the showroom.

There were keyholders nearby, but no one thought to contact them.

And there has been no apology.

Staff should have moved hell and high water to get those people out - if not for humanitarian reasons, then for the rather more mercenary one that they were potential buyers prepared to hand over several thousand pounds for a new car.

As it happens, one customer says she won't buy a car from Hylton now.

Maybe staff could reflect on their lost commission next time they lock up.