Brighton's i360 tower: 180 passengers stuck due to 'technical hitch'

A picture taken by one of the passengers from the BA i360

A "technical hitch" has been blamed for leaving 180 passengers stuck on British Airways's i360 attraction in Brighton.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said it was called at 18:39 BST and two fire engines were sent to the scene to assist.

The i360 pod was carrying a private party, including a heavily pregnant woman, who boarded the pod at about 17:00.

It was lowered to the ground about two hours later.

The BAi360 Twitter account said: "Our engineers are resolving the problem & expect it to be working normally soon."

Passengers 'a bit nervous'

A local firm of building and quantity surveyors, MacConvilles, tweeted saying: "Our Director is enjoying the hospitality of the #i360. Technical hitch has halted ride but help is on its way!"

Tim Jones, one of the party organisers, said: "We weren't very high up when we juddered to a halt and we were told by staff to move to one side of the pod to 'recalibrate the weight' - which made some people a bit nervous.

"It was an interesting experience, and quite ironic as the party was organised by four local businesses who wanted to come together to celebrate the tower's opening."

"Only two interactions were made over the two hours and they kept pretty quiet about the free bar and the emergency toilet until we were nearly on the ground," he added.

i360 in numbers

View of Brighton from the i360 to the east

• The tower is 531ft (161m) tall

• Visitors ascend 450ft (137m) in a 360-degree curved-glass pod

• The viewing pod is 59ft (18m) wide - 10 times bigger than a London eye capsule

• The tower consists of 17 steel "cans" or tubes made in Rotterdam

• It contains 1,336 bolts weighing 30 tonnes

The i360 Tower was made by the same people behind the popular London Eye attraction

The 360-degree pod comprises 24 segments of handmade Italian glass