Belt retractor

The invention relates to a belt retractor (10) for a vehicle safety belt, comprising a frame (12) that is provided with a plurality of blocking teeth (24), a belt reel (14) that is rotationally mounted in said frame (12) and has blocking toothing (26) corresponding to said blocking teeth (24), and a blocking mechanism that can transfer the belt reel (14) out of a starting position in which it can rotate freely, into a blocking position in which the blocking toothing (26) of the belt reel (14) engages in the blocking teeth (24) of the frame (12), at least one pivotable control lever (28) being provided in which one side of the belt reel (14) is rotationally mounted and which can guide said belt reel (14) from the starting position into the blocking position. A locking mechanism is provided which only releases the pivotal motion of said control lever (28) once this has been rotated out of a starting position and into a release position in the belt unwinding direction (A).