At the Bank of England, a policeman stands guard at the front door when Penelope appears. She says her car broke down and she has gotten lost due to the fog, and asks where the Tower of London is. The policeman starts to explains when someone knocks him out with chloroform!



The someone is Parker, and he and Penelope are on a mission. After finding the wiring to the bank's alarms, Parker cuts through it as Penelope sets up some plastic explosives on the door. Big Ben starts to ring as it is two in the morning, and the explosive goes off. With the door broken, Penelope and Parker move inside.



Parker heads up to a certain door and starts to figure out the code to unlock it by using a stethoscope. Penelope thinks he should use something more modern, but Parker tells her his father, his father's father and his father's father's father all used one of these. Two hours pass, and Parker finally figures out the code. He opens the door.



With the door opened, Parker says that they have completed their mission in 2 hours and 25 minutes exactly. The lights come on as several people appear, applauding and congratulating the two. Lord Silton talks to Penelope and tells her that this is the proof he needed that the bank is insecure and needs a new, modern vault. Penelope says they are glad to have been of series and reminds Silton of their dinner appointment, before she and Parker leave.



As the two head out in FAB 1, Penelope says that she is very proud of Parker for what he did. She is glad there are so few people in the world with his bank-breaking skills, and Parker says he only knows of one other. Penelope asks who this person is, but Parker says the guy has been retired. What he means by this is that the guy is actually in prison.



Or he should be in prison -he's escaped! The prison guards start searching, but they don't find him as he has hidden himself in a trash can. Elsewhere, a bank worker called Lovegrove walks in to where Silton is. Lovegrove mentions that another worker called Lambert has already gotten a report ready, and he has put it on his desk.



Silton says that whilst the outside of the bank hasn't changed, the inside has, and he shows Lovegrove the new vault which has been put in -the most modern vault in the world. All of England's deeds and monies are secure in this vault, a vault with only one key -which he himself has. It is getting to the end of the day and Lovegrove does a register. Lambert doesn't answer when his name is called out, but another worker says he did leave the vault earlier.



The register is complete, and Silton shuts the vault's door. Silton and Lovegrove agree that it was a good idea for the air to be pumped out of the vault -the papers inside will keep so much better. The door shuts and Silton tells Lovegrove he keeps the key inside his briefcase, a briefcase which never leaves his side. As everyone leaves, nobody knows that Lambert is still actually inside the vault -thankfully he has air to breathe, for now. Lambert, a workaholic, has no idea he is trapped inside the vault.



Lovegrove is still searching for him and is horrified when he answers his phone. Lambert, however, is annoyed as he said he didn't want to be disturbed. He ends up shoving his phone into a drawer. Lovegrove sees that in 2 hours, there will be no air in the vault, and Lambert will die. He tells another bank worker that Silton is the only one with a key, and he has gone out to a dinner somewhere. He decides to use the emergency call system to get into contact with him.



Silton has gone to Creighton-Ward Manor, where he once again thanks Penelope and Parker for what they did the other day. He thinks he could do with someone like Parker, but he may want to rethink that statement as Parker is getting drunk and criticizing Lil, Penelope's chef, saying her cooking is awful. Turns out he was just joking and asks what she is making for their dinner tonight.



Lil tells him of the great meal she has been working on all day, but for him, she has done his favorite: stew. Parker begins to eat and gets out today's paper, but is very surprised at the news story on the front page -"Light Fingered Fred" has escaped from prison!



Fred is still in the trash can, but the can is no longer at the prison and is instead of a truck. He rolls off the truck and ends up landing in a field, where he gets out. Meanwhile Parker has been called upon to serve some coffee, when Silton gets a call via the emergency call system. Penelope asks if there is a big problem, such as the bank being robbed. She says this just as Parker enters...



...and when he hears that the bank has been robbed he flips his tray and sends coffee all over Silton. He apolgises and say it must have been shock, but what he really thinks is that Fred has robbed the bank. He is sent away to go and get something to clean this mess up with, whilst Silton goes to use a video phone to call Lovegrove. Lovegrove is about to talk to him...



...when the screen goes off -because Parker has cut the wire! Penelope tells him to get ready as they are going to take Silton to London. She tells Silton that her car is capable of phenomenal speeds, but Parker drives deliberately slowly until Penelope tells him to speed up.



Lovegrove gives up trying to contact Silton and instead sends out a rescue call to International Rescue. John finds out what is wrong and reports it to Tracy Island. There is less than 2 hours to act, so Jeff has Scott take off in Thunderbird 1 immediately. John lets Scott know the details, and Scott requests Thunderbird 2 is sent out, carrying pod 5.



Jeff says things have been quiet on the space front recently and lets Alan go with Virgil. The two of them board Thunderbird 2, and after selecting the fifth pod, roll out onto the island's runway and blast off.



Scott lands at the heliport and heads inside the bank of England with his mobile control centre. Lovegrove is glad he is here, but isn't sure if he will be able to do anything. The only way to get through the door is with the key. Scott says they aren't usually beaten and the others will be here soon. Virgil and Alan arrive, and land Thunderbird 2 on the heliport.



However they find out that due to the complex wiring systems set up under London, they cannot use the Mole to tunnel their way in. Instead, Virgil starts using a laser to burn their way through, but Lovegrove says they won't have enough time, it would take them years. He wonders where Silton could be. Silton is in FAB 1 -and FAB 1 is at the edge of a cliff. Parker claims to have lost his way, but Penelope doesn't believe him and asks that he steps outside.



She wants to know why he is delaying them from getting to London and after some pressing, he decides to tell her. It all started when Parker was in prison, before he was taken in by Penelope. He used to share a cell with someone known as Light Fingered Fred. Fred was the man he mentioned to Penelope earlier.



One day, Fred told Parker that when he gets out of here, he is going to be a changed man. He will have learnt his lesson, and plans to reform. Just after he has robbed the Bank of England first! Back in the present, Parker explains he doesn't want to go to London because he thinks Fred may be there, carrying out his plan, and he doesn't want to be the one who puts an end to his ambition after knowing him for so long. Penelope says they don't have time to argue and tells him to get back in the car -she will have to drive. She starts FAB 1 up...and nearly sends it straight over the cliff.



She gets the car going the right way, but Parker and Silton cannot watch -Penelope's driving leaves a lot to be desired. As FAB 1 crashes and bumps towards London, Scott checks over some plans of the vault and finds a soft spot they could tunnel through...but is reminded that they can't do that because of the wiring problems. The laser is taking too long and they only have 30 minutes left. He decides to contact Tracy Island and ask if anyone has any ideas there.



Scott reports in, but not even Brains seems to have any ideas on what to do. However, Grandma Tracy comes up with a plan -she remembers that when she was a little girl, her grandma told her about something called the subway, where trains would travel under the ground. They were replaced when cities across the world began to get overheard monorail systems, but the old subway tunnels should still exist. Jeff tells Scott to check it out. Scott sends Virgil and Alan down on their hoverbikes, where they find some of the tunnels and start to move through them.



They come across a tunnel which is under the bank, and head through an access corridor to reach a wall where they can start drilling. Meanwhile, Lambert realises he is having difficulty breathing, and has gotten very hot. He decides to take a break and head outside, but finds out that he is locked in the vault. The air in the vault has reached a critical level, and Lovegrove tells Scott there is only 3 minutes worth of air left in there.



Virgil and Alan are drilling some small holes in a wall that they intend to use to setup an explosive. However, Penelope and the others finally arrive at the bank, and Lovegrove says Silton can use his key to unlock the vault. Silton has unfortunately forgotten something: the briefcase with the key in it! He left it at Penelope's place. Parker takes a look at the lock and tells Penelope to give him one of her hair clips -there is no safe in the world that he can't break into.



Meanwhile Virgil and Alan detonate their explosive, just in time to save Lambert from suffocating. Seconds after this happens, the vault door opens up -Parker has got it to open just by using a hair clip!



Silton is somewhat dismayed to see this as their supposedly secure bank isn't secure at all. He thinks they'd better have a new vault, or at least go back to the old one -that one at least took Parker 2 and a half hours to break into. Everyone goes home, and Penelope asks why it took Parker two and a half hours on the first vault but only a few seconds on the second one. He says he took longer on the first because they were being watched, and he didn't want to disappoint the audience. Meanwhile, Light Fingered Fred blows up another wall and enters the bank -only to find another wall is broken and the vault door is wide open. They call this place burglar proof? He thinks they'd do better if he gave them his kid's piggy bank!