Housing chiefs have apologised for leaving an elderly woman stuck at home in Keswick after the lift at her block of flats broke down before Christmas.
Widow Patricia Thompson, 78, suffers from osteoporosis and lives alone on the top floor of a three-storey sheltered housing block at Derwent Close, which is owned by Castles & Coasts Housing Association.
Her daughter Michelle Harvey, 52, who lives nearby at a disability bungalow in Heads Road, said: “It is disgusting.
“That lift has been broken from before Christmas. Someone got stuck in it between Christmas and new year and the fire brigade had to be called out. It is always breaking down and has been malfunctioning for the last three to four years.”
There are 24 flats in the block just off Market Square.
A sign has gone up on the lift’s ground floor door stating it is out of order.
Michelle added: “I spoke to them (Castles & Coasts) on Tuesday and they were not sending anyone out until the end of the week.
“That’s not good enough. I played hell with them. It will have been broken three weeks by the time they fix it next week — at the earliest.
“My mum is not very well and she is really struggling. She walks with a frame and there are four lots of nine steps for her to get down and then the same back up. It takes her about 20 minutes.
“There’s another lady who couldn’t go out to her family for Christmas because she couldn’t get back up the stairs. Mum is stuck at home.
“She tries to get out every other day for a bit of exercise and fresh air. She comes down the stairs but it wears her out — and getting back up is worse.”
A member of staff at Castles & Coasts Housing Association confirmed that the situation regarding the lift was being looked into.
In a statement, David Elwood, head of maintenance at Castles & Coasts, said: “We would like to reassure our residents at Derwent Close that our maintenance and housing teams are actively working to try and resolve the issue with the lift and apologise for any inconvenience caused over the festive period.
“A contractor has visited the scheme and identified the technical issue with the lift and we would like to assure residents that we’re doing all we can to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible. We will continue to keep residents informed.”
The housing association was created in 2017 after merging Two Castles and Derwent and Solway housing associations.
It employs nearly 200 staff and owns and manages more than 7,000 properties in rural and urban communities across the north of England, with around 75 per cent in Cumbria.
