Lift problems plague Sidmouth Abbeyfield home

Culver House residents may be stuck without a lift for fortnight after breakdowns

ELDERLY residents at an Abbeyfield home in Sidmouth, could be left without a lift for up to two weeks.

After a resident at Culver House, Vicarage Road, was rescued from the temperamental lift by firefighters last week, after being stuck in it for 15 minutes, someone has posted a witty rhyme, bemoaning the lack of easy access to the nine first floor flats, to the Sidmouth Herald.

They write: Sorry, but this lift is broke

And it is now beyond a joke

A stairlift’s the answer to our prayers

But until then, there’s just the stairs!

Carol Symes, secretary of the management committee at Culver House, said: “We are doing what we can to get a stairlift installed as soon as we can, but there could be two weeks without anything (other than stairs).”

She said Abbeyfield serviced the lift before it moved residents in last November.

“These last two or three weeks it has been breaking down and we have got someone in to see what is the matter with it and whether we need a new mechanism board.”

Either way it will take a fortnight for the lift to be repaired and for the stairlift to be installed, leaving the stairs the only means of reaching the ground floor.

“One lady has been coming down and staying down, sitting in the lounge,” said Carol, who said residents, who have meals downstairs, had so far refused an offer of having their meals delivered to them in their flats.

Marie Bond, chairman of the house committee, said: We have been, and are continuing to do, everything we can. It might mean having a replacement lift and whatever needs doing we will do it.”

*Since August, firefighters have attended four lift rescues in Sidmouth, including three in All Saints Road.