Broken lifts left woman, 96, stranded in her 6th floor flat
By DAVINA HYDE
A 96 year old resident was left waiting in her tower block apartment all weekend in the heat when a town hall failed to fix the lifts in her building.
On Friday, August 12 at around 2pm Norma Janes, 96, tried to get out of her apartment in Northwood House in Lambeth into the garden as the weather was extremely hot.
Both lifts were out of order so she could not leave her flat which was on the 6th floor.
She said: “I have been stuck on the 6th floor, nobody cares”.
She called her daughter in law, Tina, who rang Lambeth council and spoke to a woman that promised her a lift engineer would arrive within four hours.
At 7pm, they tried the emergency number again to be told they did put a call out to the lift company.
The next day, Tina rang the town hall emergency number again, and were told that the left hand lift needed parts for repair, and the right hand lift had been turned off, but with no explanation as to why.
By Sunday, August 14 the 96 year old was distraught and crying, worrying that if she had an accident how would they get to her. Norma was also worrying about the pensioners on the higher floors, of whom she knew at least two people were in wheelchairs, who may have been stuck without food or assistance.
The lifts were not fixed until 9.20am on Monday, August 15.
A Lambeth council spokesman said:“We have been working hard to resolve the problems with the lifts at this block, but this has taken longer than expected because the contractor has been awaiting delivery of the parts needed to complete the repair.
“One of the two lifts is working, and we hope the other one will be repaired this week.
“The contractors have made a preliminary booking for a team to fit the parts and fix the lift on Friday.
“We have sincerely apologised for the delay and the inconvenience caused to residents during this time.
“Our staff, including the scheme manager and cleaning attendant have been providing assistance, including helping residents with their shopping and deliveries.
“Residents have also been receiving daily updates on the condition of the lifts.”
Pictured top. Norma Janes. Picture: The Janes family
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If a lift in sheltered accommodation is going to be out of order for over a week, the landlord should have chair lifts fitted on the stairs. Sheltered schemes should have stairways wide enough to accommodate this and there should be no reason why someone has to be a prisoner in their flat. I would also enquire why a 96 year old is living on the 6th floor of a block. Most sheltered accommodation should not be higher than 3 floors.