THE MOTHER of a newborn baby has told of the horror moment she thought her child was going to die after becoming trapped inside a boiling hot car for 40 minutes. 

Amanda Bell had to dial 999 after her nine-week-old daughter started to become unresponsive. 

Due to an unforeseen safety lock, the 45-year-old, her 70-year-old mother and her child were shut inside the Volkswagen T-Roc in "40-degree heat" before fire crews were called to smash the vehicle's windows. 

She said: "My mum had come down to see the baby and we went to the Botanics for coffee. We went back into the car and the deadlock automatically kicked in and locked up. 

“It was really hot and the baby was getting worked up and my mum was getting a bit stressed so I got out to phone the garage. 

“When I got back in, a separate safety feature which I didn’t even know existed kicked in. I now know it is called the safelock."

Glasgow Times:

The Glasgow Times understands that a safelock is a mechanism on cars to make them harder to break into once they are locked. Typically, they disable the interior door handles - meaning doors cannot open once the feature activates. 

The safelock can be easily deactivated – as long as you have read the handbook and know how to do it.

“We couldn’t open the doors, windows or put air con on so as you can imagine, it started to get very hot", said Amanda. 

"The baby was crying and crying, so I eventually phoned the fire brigade because we just couldn’t find a way out. 

“She stopped crying which was so scary. When she was born, she was put into the neo-natal intensive care unit as she arrived three weeks early, so she did not need this."

Fire crews responded promptly to the incident, which took place on Queen Margaret Drive in the West End last week. By the time they arrived, Amanda's little girl had become "floppy". 

Amanda said: "They said that it was 40 degrees inside the car when they broke in to get my baby. They said she was floppy when she got out. 

“They were amazing with my baby, they phoned A&E and paramedics arrived and pulled her through. She was badly dehydrated".

Glasgow Times:

Amanda added: “At one point, I did think my baby was going to die when she stopped crying, I was so frightened. I’m still quite shaken. It was really, really stressful.

“I think that a big concern is, what if the firemen didn’t arrive when they did? If a baby suffers from heatstroke it can affect their brains but luckily, she was only dehydrated."

Now, the mum-of-one is urging Volkswagen and other car manufacturers to rethink their policies around safety locks.

She said: "I think that we should have been told about the locks and shown how to use them – I didn’t even know a safelock existed or what it was until now. I’m sure there will be other people out there too that don’t know about them."

And after frantically searching through the car's manual book for anti-theft lock instructions, Amanda is calling on car giants to make individual handbooks "devoted" to the safety features.

“I understand the instructions on how to use them are in the manual but they are like massive phone books", she said. 

"It would be beneficial and accessible if a manual devoted on how to use the locks was available in its own self, as opposed to being buried inside a massive manual. I was there, trying to flick through pages of nothing I knew about.

“We don’t get much heat in this country but it was just such a horrible incident. By the time the firemen arrived, I was hysterical because I was so scared about my baby and my mum. I would hate for anyone else to end up in the same position."

Glasgow Times:

A spokesman for Volkswagen UK said: “We are sorry that this customer had this experience with her Volkswagen, but are glad to hear that all occupants of the car are well.

"Safelock is a requirement from insurers, first fitted on Volkswagen models from the late 1990s, that deactivates the door release levers inside the vehicle when the vehicle is locked using the remote key. This makes it harder for thieves to steal a vehicle, who do not have its key in their possession.

"For occupants inside the car, overriding safelock either pressing the key’s unlock button or switching on the ignition using the key.

"Instructions on how to use safelock safely are contained within the handbook of the car and our retailers are encouraged to explain the vehicle’s locking and unlocking functions during the customer handover.”

A Scottish Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said: "Scottish Fire and Rescue received a call at 1.49pm on Thursday, July 15 to a report of a child locked inside a car on Queen Margaret Drive, Glasgow.

“One pump attended and the child was safely removed from the vehicle.”