Rooftop Housing apologises for faulty lift at Harrington Court

Residents of Harrington Court, in Lowesmoor, have spent the last fortnight struggling in and out of their homes after an elevator broke down.

Among them is 22-year-old single mum-of-two, Elise Gourley, who has lived on the top floor for just over three years.

She says her time at Harrington Court has been “nothing but hell”.

“There are constant repairs. Things never get replaced, only repaired,” she added.

“The most annoying part for me, and I feel for everyone, is that nothing is ever an immediate fix.

“It always takes weeks upon weeks, and the struggle is absolutely horrendous.

“My eldest child has just started primary school, so I have to go up and down at least four times a day. Absolutely disgusting.

“You can honestly imagine how bad it is getting up and down with two children, one who requires a pushchair.”

It appears Elise is not alone in her struggle.

Neighbour Kaitlyn Hodnett lives on the third floor with her two-year-old daughter, who has just started nursery.

She said: “My pram is breaking from bouncing her up and down the stairs.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous how many times I’ve reported it, and nothing has been done.”

Rooftop Housing, who own the block of flats, say as of today (Friday September 16) the lift is back in operation.

Lisa Nicholls, executive director of operations at the firm, said: 

“Keeping our customers safe is our key priority, and as part of that priority work the lift at Harrington Court was serviced a month ago and was in full operation.

"A fault was identified on the emergency phone line in the lift at the beginning of September and that meant, for safety reasons, the lift had to be turned off for repair. 

"The lift is now working, however, we do accept this repair could have been managed better.

"There was a seven-day wait for a BT Openreach engineer to attend and in total this took 13 days to resolve fully. 

"I apologise for the delay, poor communication with residents during this period, and any inconvenience this has caused.  We will ensure we reflect on this to make sure we continually improve our service.”

Paramedics carried a disabled woman down the stairs of Harrington Court because of a broken lift (Image: Paramedics carried a disabled woman down the stairs of Harrington Court because of a broken lift)

READ MORE: Paramedics have to carry disabled woman trapped in flat because of broken lift

It is not the first time such circumstances have plagued Harrington Court.

In November of last year, a disabled woman who uses a wheelchair was trapped in her flat due to a broken lift.

Things went from bad to worse for Rachael Cuthbertson-Letelier who had to call 999 after experiencing high temperatures and sickness.

Paramedics were forced to carry her down two flights of stairs to an awaiting ambulance.

"It's very hurtful to know there isn't any empathy for the fact I'm not able to leave my flat,” Rachael said at the time.