Lambeth residents on estate where police have to carry tenants upstairs and raw sewage pumps out of bath

Tenants on an estate have told of the chaos they are living in with broken lifts isolating disabled residents, raw sewage pumping out of baths and walls leaking with water.

The Willard estate, just off Wandsworth Road in Battersea, has been plagued with problems that have made the tenants’ lives hell.

Ros Munday, chairwoman of the tenants and residents association for the estate, said she was “really upset”, and said dealing with Lambeth council to get it to fix the issues had been “embarrassing”.

She said: “A disabled lady on the ground floor had sewage coming out of her bath.

“The contractors built a ramp for her to get into the property, but they built it over the access drain and they just left it there because they couldn’t lift it.

“Another person had water pouring through the wall from a leak, and when they called customer services to get fixed they were told they would have to wait two weeks for a repair team.”

Ms Munday said the lift on the estate had been breaking down three times a week for the past 12 weeks, leaving disabled tenants trapped in their rooms, or trapped on the ground floor with no way to get to their homes.

One tenant returned home from a chemotherapy appointment to find the lift broken and was forced to wait “in the pouring rain” for three hours until a contractor came to fix it.

Another, who lives on the fourth floor of the estate, needed police to help paramedics bring them down the stairs.

Ms Munday said she spent 12 weeks “seeing people in tears because they were missing hospital appointments”.

John Webb, who suffers from osteoarthritis and is due to have his hip replaced, almost missed his pre-operation appointment because of the broken lift, and said life had become “impossible” and that he was “thoroughly p***** off”.

“I can’t leave the house,” he said. “I can’t go to the shops, to doctors appointments or to get my jabs. I can’t even go to the pub. And I’m not the only one.

“My wife also has arthritis and she has to push the trolley up the ramp when the lift isn’t working. There’s other people in wheelchairs, too.”

Mr Webb claimed the contractors used by Lambeth council, RJ Lift Services, had been called out to fix the lift and on one occasion did not bring a ladder, on another they said the lift was too dirty.

Tenants in the block claimed they had the call-outs added to their service charges.

Ms Munday estimated the council had spent £4,000 in the past three months trying to fix the lifts.

“These contractors are using the council as a cash machine. It’s embarrassing,” she said.

A spokesman for Lambeth council said: “We understand how poor reliability of the passenger lifts can affect residents, and we share the concerns about the problems with this particular lift. The council has been aware for some time about issues relating to this relatively new contract.

“We have been closely monitoring the performance of the contractor through regular dialogue and performance meetings. As a result of the contractor’s inconsistent and poor performance this year, the council has been deducting the maximum cap allowed each month from their contract payment.”

RJ Lift Services have been contacted for comment.

Pictured top: Willard estate resident John Webb and a sign for the broken lift (Picture: Rosario Munday)