Broken lift leaves woman, 84, stuck since Christmas

Cynthia Ash has been trapped in her home for nearly three months

An elderly woman has been confined to her home since Christmas Day after her building's communal lift stopped working.

Cynthia Ash, 84, lives in a retirement flat at Brookthorpe Close in Worcester and the building has been without an operational lift since June.

In an email, seen by the BBC, residents were told there is a need for a brand new lift to be installed - but this will not happen until March 2025.

Platform Housing (PH) apologised for the inconvenience and said it was trying to speed this up and a stairlift had been installed in the meantime.

Speaking to BBC Hereford & Worcester, Ms Ash said although PH installed the stairlift she does not trust it and has fears of using it.

She said not being able to leave her home when she wanted had affected her mental health.

The last time she was able to leave home was with the help of her son, who helped carry her down the stairs from her first floor flat.

"I cannot get down on my own," said Ms Ash.

"Christmas Day was the last time I went out.

"I have daughters, but they are at work and when they do see me they struggle to get me down anywhere."

'Cannot get downstairs'

Ms Ash said it feels like she is "shut in".

"The other people here need the lift, as well as me," she added.

Local councillor Jill Desayrah was first told about the faulty lift in July.

"People living here as they are with disabilities, elderly people, they cannot get down the stairs and not everybody can use the stairlift," she said.

"I just cannot understand why it is taking so long to do this.

"I could not tell you how many years this has been an issue."

Councillor Jill Desayrah said she could not understand the delay with the lift

PH said the work to replace the lift was about its "commitment to building safety".

"The lift at Brookthorpe Close in Warndon has been taken out of service as it is old, unreliable, and difficult to maintain," it said in a statement.

"We are currently making arrangements for a new, modern and reliable passenger lift for residents and other users, to be installed.

"We apologise for the inconvenience this work will likely have on residents and have provided a stairlift for this interim period."

It added the team was "working hard to minimise the disruption and are accelerating these works as much as possible."