Investigation call after residents trapped in Sheffield tower block by broken lift over Christmas

Residents at Robertshaw House in Netherthorpe were without the lift from Christmas Eve until December 31, leaving dozens of elderly and disabled residents effectively housebound.

The only way some residents could get in or out of their flats was by scaling 28 separate flights of stairs - a staggering 252 steps.

Jean Hodkin, 89, who lives on the building’s 12th floor, said she was stuck in her flat for a week, with her daughter having to climb 24 flights of stairs just to deliver her mum essential items like food.

She said: “I could get down the stairs but it would take me a long time - but I certainly couldn’t get back up them.

“Alec who lives on the same floor as me is very restricted at 96 now and my daughter has a broken ankle - I don’t know how she got up those stairs.

“There are also young women with prams here and lots of children now. We have had no communication and no one has said sorry.”

The block currently only has one lift while the other one is being fully refurbished, leaving some to question whether the council could have planned the repairs better.

Former Sheffield Councillor Peter McLoughlin, 75, who himself lives on the 14th floor of the block, is now calling for an investigation into how the situation came about.

He said: “Given that we are only going to have one lift for another four months we need to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

“The issue that really does concern me is what would have happened if someone had a heart attack or in the event of a fire.”

Councillor Paul Wood, cabinet member for neighbourhoods and community safety at Sheffield City Council, said: "We are sorry for any distress that may have been caused to the tenants at Robert Shaw Tower Block due to the broken lift in between Christmas and new year.

“We received a call on Tuesday December 24 at 10:54 pm concerning a fault at the tower block and our engineers attended within half an hour.

"In most cases we can repair malfunctioning lifts fairly quickly, but in this case some of the parts we needed were not available until Tuesday December 31.

“We made every effort to repair the lift as quickly as we could, with two further visits on Christmas Day and December 27 but these were unsuccessful.

“We have met with the tenant who raised the issue to apologise and explain the circumstances, and have taken steps to ensure that this does not happen again.

“The lift is back in operation and I would like to thank residents for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused.”