Guide
Woking Locksmith Guide: How to Choose a Trustworthy Locksmith and Avoid the Common Scams
Locked out right now? Call 01483 377197 and run the five checks below on us while you are on the line.
The first decision is whether you need someone tonight or can book a visit, and either way the starting fact is the same: nobody licenses locksmiths in Britain, so the checking falls to you. The good news is that it takes about two minutes.
This guide sets out five checks to make before anyone is sent, how the best-documented scams actually work, what to do if someone is already at your door, and where to go if it has already gone wrong. It is written by a Woking locksmith, Woking Locksmith, and it says so; each claim below names its source. It describes patterns, not businesses.
Call with your postcode for a current arrival estimate.
- 24-hour emergency cover
- No call-out charge
- Price agreed before work starts
Five Checks to Make Before Anyone Is Sent
These five checks take about two minutes and rule out most of the patterns described further down. Screenshot them if you like.
Get a total, not just a starting figure.
Ask whether the number includes VAT, parts, labour and any call-out charge, and what would make it change. Our guide to locksmith prices shows what typical jobs cost.
Find the business behind the phone number.
Look for a trading name, an address that is not a virtual office, and a company or VAT number you can look up.
Ask who is coming and roughly when.
You want a name, and an arrival estimate rather than a promise.
Ask how they plan to open the door.
A locksmith who works non-destructively where the lock allows will say so, and will explain the situations where drilling cannot be avoided.
Agree what happens if the job changes.
Any change to the work or the price should be put to you before anything starts, not after.
If a caller will not answer the first or second check, stop there and ring someone else. Failing a check does not make anyone a criminal; it is simply a reason to try a different number. If your situation is urgent, see how an emergency call-out works.
In a hurry, the first result or the cheapest figure feels like the obvious choice. Be wary of anyone who sidesteps simple questions, gives a vague price, or pushes you towards drilling or a new lock without explaining why.
Nobody Licenses Locksmiths in Britain
There is no government licence for locksmiths in the United Kingdom, and no register you can look someone up on. The position was set out in the House of Commons during the Westminster Hall debate on Licensing of Master Locksmiths on 22 September 2021, secured by Mark Pawsey MP.
What That Means When You Are Standing Outside Your Own Door
With no licence, there is no number you can ring to confirm that someone is genuine, so the checks have to come before you agree to anything. What you can actually confirm is:
- that the business exists and trades from a real address
- that the price you were given is a total, and that a named person is coming
- that the method of entry has been explained
None of this is a guarantee, but it makes the common patterns unlikely. At two in the morning you have less time, so use the first two checks and let the rest wait. Never stay out in the cold rather than call someone; see what happens on a.
Why a Logo Is Not the Same as a Licence
Badges and logos on a locksmith's website are voluntary schemes, directory listings or graphics. None of them is a licence. Three things are commonly mistaken for regulation: a membership graphic, a badge from a review platform, and a line saying the business is vetted or checked. Each one may be real, and each one can be pasted onto a page in seconds. Registration on its own does not prove competence either.
So instead of looking for the picture, ask:
- What exactly is this claim?
- How can I check it independently?
- What work has the business actually done that I can see?
Any claim worth making can be backed up. And what a locksmith has done is easier to verify than what they say they are.
As it was put in that debate: there is no regulatory regime for locksmiths in the UK, so anyone can advertise, trade, buy the tools and call themselves a locksmith, with no training, vetting or proof of qualification required.
A Neighbourhood Watch survey put to the same debate found that 76 per cent of its members did not know the trade was unregulated. The government's response declined to introduce licensing. The record is in Hansard.
Because there is no licence to look for, the useful move is to check whether the details hang together. Search the trading name together with its phone number and website, and see whether the same details turn up across the site, directory listings and review profiles. A polished advert does not necessarily tell you which business will turn up or answer for the work. You are not trying to prove everything from a listing, just to know who you are dealing with before you give out your address or confirm anything.
Locksmith pricing
The £49 Advert: How a Bait Price Turns Into a Bill
The pattern is simple to state: a low figure is advertised, someone is sent out, and the bill arrives at many times that number. The Guardian, reporting on 15 July 2026, described it as a "49-er", after a typical advertised figure, with hundreds or even thousands charged once the technician had arrived. Not every low advertised price is a scam; an honest starting price can be low too. The test is how the figure is presented, not how small it is.
Dishonesty cannot be established from an isolated warning sign. The concern grows when several turn up at once, or when sensible questions about the business, the work and the price go unanswered.
| If you notice | Do this |
|---|---|
| A very low price with no explanation | Ask what it covers and which charges could be added. |
| No clear business identity | Find out who will turn up, who takes payment and whose name is on the invoice. |
| Pressure to agree on the spot | Wait until you understand the work and the likely total. |
How the Switch Happens on the Doorstep
The switch nearly always happens through the lock. In outline:
- The advertised figure is presented as if it were the whole job.
- The door is opened by drilling rather than by a non-destructive method.
- The drilled lock now has to be replaced.
- The replacement is charged at a figure that bears no relation to the cost of the part.
Two pressure signs can be spotted in the moment: being told the work must start straight away, and being asked to pay in a way that leaves no record. Drilling is sometimes the right call, so it is not proof of anything by itself. The point is that you can stop the job before it begins, and nothing is agreed until you agree it.
Telling a Starting Price From a Bait Price
An honest starting price tells you what it covers and what would move it. A bait price is presented as the whole answer.
| Honest starting price | Bait price |
|---|---|
| Names the job it applies to | A bare number with no job attached |
| Says whether VAT is included | No mention of VAT |
| Says what is not included | No word on exclusions |
| Names what would change it, such as the lock or the hour | No explanation of what could change it |
Rule 3.18 of the CAP Code expects quoted prices to include taxes and charges that are compulsory and apply to all or most buyers. A low starting price is not misleading in itself, provided it comes with an explanation of what it covers; the trouble starts when a headline figure wins the booking while predictable labour, parts or attendance charges stay hidden. Find out what you are being quoted: the cost of the complete job, a starting figure or an estimate drawn from the details you have supplied. Those are three different things. The quickest test is to ask what the price does not cover: an honest quote has an answer.
In fairness to that test, our own lockout figure is a starting price. It is quoted including VAT, at £70.80 (£59 plus VAT), and it applies to a standard weekday lockout, Monday to Friday from 7am to 6pm, not to every job.
The Scam Usually Starts in the Search Results
By the time someone is at your door, the choice was made on a search results page, usually in under a minute. That is where the checks are cheapest. The scale is large: Google said it blocked or removed 602 million ads linked to scams during 2025, as reported by the Guardian on 15 July 2026. Sponsored listings are not scams in themselves; the point is to check before you dial.
Listings That Look Local But Are Not
A listing that looks local is not evidence of a local business. Things that can look local without being so:
- an area name in the business name
- a local dialling code that forwards somewhere else
- a map pin at an address the business does not occupy
- a page built for a town the business has never worked in
The check that settles it is to ask where they are coming from and how long that will take, and see whether the answer fits the address on the site. A business with no premises near you is not necessarily a problem, because most locksmiths are mobile; the problem is claiming a presence that is not there. Ask whether the person on the phone works for the business that will attend, and which business will send the technician, take payment, issue the invoice and deal with any problem afterwards. You can read how we describe where we work on our homepage.
Checking the Business Behind the Number
Two minutes on a phone will tell you whether a business exists in any real sense. In order of speed:
- Look for a trading name and address on the website itself, rather than just a form and a mobile number.
- Search the trading name by itself and see whether anything exists beyond its own adverts.
- Look for a company or VAT number you can check. Sole traders are lawful and common, so the lack of a company number is not a red flag on its own.
- Read reviews for detail about the job rather than for the star score; specific reviews are harder to fake.
The single fastest test is one question: what business name will be on the invoice? You may also be asked for evidence that you own or live at the property, or that you have permission to enter it. If your ID is locked inside, say so before work starts and ask what other evidence will do.
Identifying the lock or diagnosing the fault precisely is not necessary before you call. Say what has happened, how the door or lock is behaving and when you need help, and give your postcode and type of property so the locksmith can confirm they cover you. Mention the door material if you know it, whether timber, uPVC, composite, aluminium or something else, and whether the door is shut and locked or open with a faulty lock, because those need different approaches. You can also see the Woking areas we cover.
If Someone Is Already at Your Door
You can still stop the job, and nothing is owed on a price you have not agreed. A short script:
- Ask for the name of the business and of the technician, and check both against the call.
- Ask for the total in writing or by text before work starts. That is a reasonable request and an easy one to meet.
- Ask how the door will be opened and why. If drilling is proposed, ask what makes it necessary on this lock; knowing what type of lock you have helps.
- If the answers differ from what you were told on the phone, say the job is not agreed and ask them to leave.
- Once the work is finished, check the bill against the amount discussed earlier before you pay. If it has gone up, ask what extra work, parts or charges were added and why.
If you feel unsafe, do not argue at the door: ring someone you trust, or the police.
When you do pay, aim to leave with a clear record. An itemised invoice or receipt should show the trading name and contact details, the date and the address where the work was done, the work and parts supplied, the charges and the total paid.
If It Has Already Gone Wrong
There are three routes, and the first one costs nothing. This is general consumer information, not legal advice.
Ask in writing.
Request an itemised invoice from the business and compare it with the figure you were first given. Keep every message.
Talk to your card provider.
If you paid by card, ask about a chargeback. Time limits apply, so do it soon.
Report it.
The Citizens Advice consumer helpline passes reports on to Trading Standards, and a report is worth making even if your own money does not come back.
Photographs of the old lock, the new lock and the invoice count for more than a recollection, so keep them with your booking confirmation and payment record. And remember that a job agreed at your home carries information duties on the trader: if no total price was given, that is part of your case. The price guide sets out those entitlements in full.
You cannot establish wrongdoing solely because a lock was drilled, the price was low or a call centre was involved. Be more concerned when you cannot get answers to straightforward questions about who the business is, what work is involved or what it will cost.
How Woking Locksmith Answers These Checks
It would be poor form to publish a checklist and then dodge it, so here are our answers to the same five questions.
The price.
There is no call-out charge. A standard weekday lockout, Monday to Friday from 7am to 6pm, starts from £70.80 including VAT (£59 plus VAT), and every other job is priced on the call from what you describe.
The business.
The trading name is Woking Locksmith. [CLIENT TO CONFIRM: trading address and whether it can be published]
Who is coming.
[PROVIDER PACK: who answers calls and how the technician and arrival estimate are confirmed]
The method.
[CLIENT TO CONFIRM: entry-method policy, including when drilling is used and how it is explained first]
Changes.
If anything found on site changes the price, you are told before any work begins.
You pay for the work carried out, any parts needed, and VAT. Rates outside Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm, are higher, but the call-out itself is never charged.
Emergency calls are answered 24 hours a day, every day of the year, including weekends and bank holidays. [PROVIDER PACK: DBS check and public liability insurance evidence]
Ask Us These Five Questions: call 01483 377197
Questions People Ask Before Letting a Locksmith In
Do locksmiths need a licence in the UK?
No. There is currently no statutory licence for locksmiths in the UK, as was confirmed in a Commons debate in September 2021. Clear prices, identifiable business details, experience and written confirmation of the work should all inform your assessment; participation in an available voluntary scheme is another factor to weigh.
Does drilling a lock mean I am being scammed?
Not on its own. Drilling can be right when a lock is damaged, has failed inside, or cannot reasonably be opened by a suitable non-destructive method. The reason, and the cost of the replacement, should be explained before it happens.
How can I tell if a locksmith's price is a bait price?
Ask what it does not cover. An honest starting price names the job, says whether VAT is included and explains what would change it. A bait price is a bare number with none of that.
What can I do if I think I have been overcharged?
Ask the business in writing for an itemised invoice, speak to your card provider about a chargeback if you paid by card, and report it through the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, which passes reports to Trading Standards.