Residents angry at broken lift at Thornton Road home (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Residents angry at broken lift at Thornton Road home

9:00am Friday 2nd November 2012 in News By Rhys Thomas, T&A Reporter

A fed-up resident says he and his neighbours are “living in misery” at their sheltered accommodation complex in Bradford.

Alexander McKnight has criticised Incommunities, the company that runs Shuttleworth House on Thornton Road.

The 68-year-old former military policeman claims the building’s lift is continuously breaking down and leaving disabled elderly residents stranded on the first and second floors.

Mr McKnight said the lift packed in four times in 24 hours between Monday and Tuesday this week.

He told how he once had to carry a fellow resident down the stairs because the lift was out of order.

“It is just absolutely crazy,” said Mr McKnight, who has experienced problems with the lift in the four years he has lived at Shuttleworth House.

“At one stage it was out of order for about four weeks. It is getting so ridiculous now it’s untrue.

“There are disabled people on the first and second floor who are left stranded when the lift breaks down.

“Incommunities say all the flats are classed as ground floor flats because of the lift – what lift?”

Mr McKnight also alleged that there are no fire exits on the first and second floors, and wondered how residents would escape a fire in the property. He said: “If there is a fire, the disabled people on the first and second floors would have to just sit and wait to be rescued.”

Mr McKnight also poured scorn on the alarm button system, claiming it can take 20 minutes for any calls to be answered, let alone responded to.

He also said Shuttleworth House doesn’t have a warden when it is supposed to. An Incommunities spokesman said: “We apologise for any inconvenience any lift faults may have caused residents. We have had several call-outs to the lift at Shuttleworth House. The most recent was on October 30 2012 and the lift was brought back in use for residents the same day. We are reviewing the lift system within the scheme.

“A full fire risk assessment was carried out at the scheme in June 2012. It is compliant in accordance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order) 2005. This risk assessment is carried out annually. As a caring and responsible social landlord we place the highest priority on all our customers safety and well being. At Shuttleworth House this includes carrying out routine ‘mystery shopper’ testing of the home fitted alarms which is linked to the Council’s Safe and Sound monitoring base.

“Our recent records for the last six months show all calls were answered within 30 seconds. We can confirm that we fully meet the response targets set by the regulator, the Telecare Services Association. A new scheme co-ordinator started at Shuttleworth House on Monday. The previous scheme coordinator left last month and during the interim period we have provided daily scheme cover.”