Bournemouth homeowner's fury over sofa wedged in stairs

Mr Ansell posted a photo of the sofa wedged in his staircase on social media

A new homeowner said his staircase and walls had been "trashed" after delivery men left a sofa jammed on the stairs.

Luke Ansell ordered the sofa from online retailer designersofas4u.co.uk after moving in to a brand new house in Bournemouth.

He said the sofa company's delivery men got it wedged but left saying they had no time to rectify it.

The company has disputed some of the facts and said it would replace the sofa and pay for house repairs.

Mr Ansell posted a picture of the stricken sofa on a local Facebook group and four "lovely members of the community" came to help him move it upstairs.

Many of the online comments drew comparisons with the episode of TV comedy Friends, in which a sofa is similarly stuck on a staircase and gave rise to the shout of "pivot".

The handmade leather sofa was ordered for the new-build house Mr Ansell and his wife had recently moved in to.

The sofa apparently damaged wood panelling and plasterboard in the new house

He described how the two designersofas4u.co.uk delivery staff arrived on 19 January and assessed there was enough room to take the sofa up to the second-floor office.

In the event they got it to the stairwell but no further, he said.

"They got jammed and tried to get it back out but got stuck. They said, 'There's nothing more we can do, we haven't got time, we have to go'.

"It's an absolute nightmare. They even asked me to sign a note to say it had been delivered - there was quite a confrontation."

He said it left plasterwork and wood panelling in the home badly damaged.

The Blackburn-based company told the BBC it had carried out an "internal investigation".

It said Mr Ansell discussed the issue of the stairs with the company's customer services department at the time of the deliver and said they should "give it a go".

In a subsequent email to Mr Ansell, it said: "Whilst our driver and his colleague attempted to get the sofa up the second flight of steps you also tried to help and between yourself and the two delivery persons managed to get the sofa wedged and also damage the walls.

"As a company we always try to put our customers first and have built our business over 13 years with this at the forefront of our minds. We also as an employer try to ensure that our staff are safe and also at the top of our priority."

It said the staff involved were "very upset and apologetic for any hurt and inconvenience caused".

The costs of repairing the damage to the walls and stairs would be covered by the company and it would also supply a brand new replacement sofa, it said.

It added it would be providing the new sofa with "kerb-side delivery".

The company also said that it would introduce body-worn cameras for its delivery teams in future.