A British Subway employee has revealed how she scrawled the phrase ‘Help me’ with ketchup in the hope that CCTV operators would see her message and rescue her after she was trapped in the sandwich restaurant’s fridge for eight hours overnight.
Karlee Daubeney had hoped her message would see an end to her plight, but her desperate message went unanswered, and she was not freed from the fridge until 7:30am the following morning, when a colleague arrived to open the branch in Gloucester. Daubeney and the branch are currently in a legal battle over the incident, which happened last December, over a potential breach of health and safety laws by not ensuring the welfare of Daubeney.
“At first I was in a state of panic and I was looking for anything that could have opened the door,” Daubeney told the Gloucester Citizen. “I was trying to write ‘help’ on pieces of cardboard to slide under the door. I think it was with ketchup or mayonnaise.
“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. 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.”
Karlee Daubeney, who wrote pleading messages in ketchup while trapped in the fridge [Gloucester Citizen]
After the incident, Daubeney claims the restaurant's franchisee showed little concern for her well being, and asked her to come in to work the night shift later on that day:
Got locked in a fucking fridge over night for 8 hours and work don't ask me if I'm okay, they ask if I can work tonight PISS TAKE
— Karlee daubeney (@neonkittenn) December 30, 2014
The 20-year-old Gloucester woman also claims that the incident has meant she suffers from anxiety, and that she becomes nervous at the sound of doors bang shut behind her.
“I was obviously on shift alone which was scary enough as the windows had been kicked in a few weeks before and I didn’t feel comfortable being there,” she said.
“I didn’t leave the house for a long time afterwards as I was suffering from really bad panic attacks – it has been nearly a year and I still suffer from anxiety."
The franchisee, Christopher Vicoli, in charge of the branch entered a not guilty plea at the first hearing on October 26th, but was yesterday fined more than £6,000 (€8,425) by Cheltenham magistrates who found that the branch had been negligent.
A Subway spokesman said: "As this case is currently under investigation we are unable to comment further at this stage."
