A claustrophobic patient was stuck in a lift for more than two hours in the early hours of this morning at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Firefighters were called at 1am after the 26-year-old had been trapped for an hour when hospital staff could not contact contracted lift engineers.

Fairweather Green watch commander Gio Richetta said the man calmed down when firefighters arrived, but there was little they could do as the lift had lost pressure and procedure is that they are not allowed to intervene in such circumstances.

“The onsite staff and engineer on site had attempted to take manual control of the lift, but were unable to. They had been attempting to call lift engineers, they didn’t respond so the poor guy had been stuck in for over an hour by the time we got the call.”

Mr Richetta said he would have had to call for technical support and cut away part of the lift to free the man had another lift engineer company not been able to help.

The man was freed at 2.10am.

Chief Operating Officer for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Helen Barker said: "We are reviewing our contingency arrangements as a matter of urgency. We would like to thank the fire service for their prompt action in resolving the situation."