Disabled widow in tears after getting trapped in lift twice in one week

18 May 2024 , 17:22

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North Wales woman Tracey Crowther was left trapped in her disability lift twice in one week (Image: Tracey Crowther/Daily Post Wales)

A disabled mum who got stuck in her home lift twice in one week has revealed how she was left in tears after being unable to move between floors.

Tracey Crowther lives with her son in North Wales and became stuck on the lift midway between floors at her home in Rhyl on separate occasions. The first happened on Tuesday, where Stannah Lifts came out to fix the problem, but it happened again shortly after and she's now calling for a cheaper warranty on the £75 fee she is paying now.

The widowed 60-year-old claimed she has been having problems at her terraced home for years without a proper fix. The mother-of-four lives at the three-storey property with her 30-year-old son David and frequently uses the lift between the ground floor and first floor to get to her bedroom.

Tracey Crowther uses a lift at her home in Rhyl, but it broke down twice in one week, leaving her stuck between floors (Tracey Crowther/Daily Post Wales)

After becoming stuck on the lift on Tuesday, she messaged NorthWalesLive while trapped and said: "I am writing this to you now as I am trapped in the lift in between floors. The lift won't go up or down. I've been here now for what seems an eternity. I'm scared, cold and desperately in need of the bathroom."

Mrs Crowther was stuck for more than three hours - between 8.10am and 11.25am - while she waited for an engineer from the lift company to come out. However, just two days later on Thursday she ran into the same problem and became stuck. The fed up mum used to work on crime studies for the Home Office and has lymph cancer in both legs as well as heart problems, the Daily Post reports.

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In a statement Stannah Lifts said it came to help Mrs Crowther on Tuesday and recommended regular servicing. The company said: "We understand being stuck in a lift can be very distressing and treat a person in this situation as a priority and will always send an engineer as soon as we can to free the person."

"We can confirm Mrs Crowther had a through-floor lift installed at her property on November 3, 2015, paid for by a grant from her local council. The lift came with a five-year extended warranty, which was further extended by three years in 2020, and this expired in November 2023."

Ms Crowther used the lift to get from the ground floor to her bedroom on the first floor (Tracey Crowther/Daily Post Wales)

Stannah said Mrs Crowther wasn't charged for their emergency visit and said it acted "immediately" to her call for help on Tuesday. A statement continued: "We have reviewed the call we received on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, from Mrs Crowther and can attest that once Mrs Crowther had told our administrator she was stuck in the lift our administrator immediately informed Mrs Crowther she would get an engineer out to her. Within nine minutes of completing the call an engineer had been dispatched. Upon the arrival of our engineer Mrs Crowther was no longer in the lift."

The lift company explained Mrs Crowther’s warranty was due to expire in November 2023 and they sent her their service contract options by post and followed up with a phone call to talk her through those options. A spokesman added: "Mrs Crowther did not proceed with any service contract with us. We remain available to discuss these options.

The 60-year-old widow has been left fed up after being trapped twice in one week (Tracey Crowther/Daily Post Wales)

The mother-of-four lives in a three storey property (Tracey Crowther/Daily Post Wales)

"It is critical that lifts, like all complex mechanical and electrical equipment, are serviced regularly to maintain optimum performance. As per the manufacturer’s recommendations it is typical for this type of product to be serviced every six months. A service allows an engineer to check the safety features of the lift as well as clean, lubricate, and adjust all components."

The statement concluded: "Lift safety is of the utmost importance to us. We have one of the most robust safety procedures in the industry and our safety record is second to none."

Sean McPolin