Housing bosses have again been urged to put an end to the continuing “scandal” of broken lifts tormenting elderly residents living in some of Newcastle’s tallest buildings.
Elderly people living in council housing blocks across the city have complained regularly since last year of repeated breakdowns that have left them stranded. Residents at Shieldfield House, in Shieldfield, were left dismayed last weekend when a notice appeared telling them that one of the high-rise building’s two lifts would be out of action until May.
While Your Homes Newcastle (YHN) now says that the necessary repairs should in fact now be carried out next week, the mechanical failures have become a constant source of frustration. Suzanne Smeaton, whose 90-year-old mother Susannah lives on the block’s 13th floor, said the situation is “like something out of a Carry On film” and has left her so fed up that she now plans to move her mum out of the building instead of risking her becoming “housebound” every time the lifts break.
