Millbrook Towers lifts break, leaving woman stuck inside

The lifts first stopped working on Friday and forced residents to walk down as many as 24 flights of stairs in sweltering heat to get outside.

One of the lifts has since begun working as of Tuesday afternoon.

Heather Hedges, 85, who lives on the top floor of the high-rise flats, told the Echo: “I’ve lived here 30 odd years and it’s never been as bad as it is now.

“On Saturday morning – about 6:30am – I got in the lift to collect my morning paper as I do every day.

“I had to go from the top floor to the bottom and a gentleman joined me in the lift on the fourth floor, who was also going to the shop to pick up a paper.

“Then when the doors closed, we became stuck in the lift and we weren’t let out for an hour and 45 minutes.

“I was shaking a little bit and said ‘I am sorry, I’m so nervous’ and needed to have a cigarette to calm down.

“The man in the lift told me he’d have had a packet himself if he had any on him!”

Heather and her lift companion buzzed for help and were eventually let out.

Tenants have been plagued by problems with the lifts all year, with occupants labelling the situation a ‘nightmare’ back in April.

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I've spent the day at Millbrook Towers where residents (144 flats across 24 floors) had been stranded without a lift for four days until this afternoon. @dailyecho pic.twitter.com/RPHYvlci3R

— Matt Davey (@MattDaveyJourno) September 5, 2023

Sophie Brito, 27, said not having the use of the lifts played havoc with the school run.

She said: “It was my child’s first day back at school on Monday and it was carnage going up and down the stairs with families trying to take their children to school.

“You don’t realise the difficulty of it until it happens, it just changes everything and takes over your life.

“It gets incredibly hot in the stairway as well and it can be quite narrow – especially with a lot of people there – so you wonder how safe it is.”

A 22-year-old resident who wished to remain anonymous added: “We have the stairway, but it gets really dirty and unclean.

“Children have been running through there and you see them, and they’ve got dirt on their hands where they’ve been touching the handrail.

“I just wish the council could do more to help us; sometimes it seems like we have no communication and we’re still expected to pay hundreds of pounds for our service charge when we’re not being provided a service.”

Southampton City Council has been approached for comment.