Tower residents desperate as lifts fail in heat

Residents living in a tower block in Tower Hamlets, east London, have told the BBC they are "desperate for help" after high temperatures caused all three of its lifts to fail.

Since Monday, those living in Royal Captain Court - which is not air conditioned - have been forced to climb stairs instead, with one 20th floor resident describing how she had fainted halfway up.

Tina Wang said the staircase was "extremely hot", and added: "There's no cameras, there's no ventilation, there's no signal, so if something happens, there's no way to contact anyone."

Property managers Sanctuary have apologised to residents for the "highly disruptive" outage, and said support was being offered to residents.

However, residents said no help or support had been offered as yet.

Emails seen by the BBC from the property managers to residents explained that the recent hot weather had caused the lifts to switch to "fire safety mode", which had caused them to stop working.

Wang said since she fainted on Tuesday evening, she had "self-evacuated" from the property, but said she did not know where she was going to sleep this evening.

"Thank goodness my flatmate knew that I was in the staircase, so she ended up coming to help, but if it wasn't for that, I don't know what I would have done to be very honest," she said, adding that she has not had "any replies" from Sanctuary.

"I don't think that this is humane," she said.

"I've never felt so helpless before in a situation. This heatwave is an emergency in itself, added to this lift situation. I can't even comprehend what to do."

She added that the whole experience had left her to consider moving.

Davide Mason, who lives on the sixth floor and wrote to the BBC through "Your Voice", said: "My concern is not simply that the lifts failed, but how a high-rise residential building could be left without any operational lift service for such a prolonged period."

He said neighbours were left asking why contingency arrangements were not in place for incidents such as these.

The BBC was also shown a video of Vanessa, who lives on the 16th floor, attempting to climb the stairs with a dog, while carrying heavy shopping supplies.

"These stairs just never end," she can be heard saying breathlessly on the video.

"It's 33 degrees (91F) outside and there's literally no air conditioning on the stairs. My dog is struggling as well," she says.

Vanessa's dog can be seen laying down and panting.

Vanessa's neighbours, Jon Manfield and Sarah Piper, on the ninth floor, said they were struggling to cope with a small baby in the current situation.

Sarah said while Jon had been at work on Tuesday, she had been helped by an onsite member of staff to carry their baby and possessions up the stairs, but the person helping became overwhelmed with heat and had to leave her on the fifth floor, where Sarah was left "crying for help".

"I had no signal, I was crying up the stairs, it was awful," she said.

A few floors up, Sahil Patni lives on the 14th floor.

"I broke my leg two weeks ago, so I'm not in the best state to climb 14 flights of stairs," he said.

"It's boiling - even after a couple of flights of stairs," he explained.

Patni said residents had received "no help" from the management company who look after the block, and specifically the lifts.

"The management should think of us as humans who are trying to live in this heat - it's a health and safety issue," he added.

A spokesperson for property managers, Sanctuary, said: "We are sorry about the ongoing issue with the lifts and understand the concerns and disruption being caused.

"Our lift contractor is working hard to restore them and we are clear on the urgent need to resolve the problems as soon as possible.

"Our local team is offering increased support to residents, particularly those with additional needs, and will continue to do so until the lifts are fixed.

"We will also keep residents regularly updated on how the repairs are progressing."

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