OAPs trapped in Post Office lift

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/422 ... fice_lift/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TWO elderly women spent a terrifying 10 minutes stuck in a lift and were only rescued after a woman heard their cries for help.

Peggy Prue and Doreen Pugh had been to the Post Office on the second floor of Worcester’s WH Smith to collect their pensions yesterday.

Neither of them can climb stairs so had taken the small lift, but it broke down and the emergency alarm did not work.

“I suffer from angina and I panicked. I kept trying the emergency alarm and it was not helping at all,” said 77-year-old Mrs Prue.

“We were hammering on the door, in the end I started to shout and the word 'help' did come out.

“No-one seemed too worried, eventually a young lady answered and got the lift open and came to the rescue.”

The women used to get their pensions from the post office in Bilford Road, Worcester, but the branch was one of 10 in south Worcestershire forced to close as part of a national programme to reduce the number of post offices.

Only a few months before Bilford Road Post Office closed, the main Worcester branch in Foregate Street moved to WH Smith.

At the time there were grave concerns over access to the second floor branch, and people have been trapped in the lift on more than one occasion.

“Closing Bilford Road was a nuisance but you can put up with it,” said Mrs Prue, of Bilford Avenue.

“The way the post office is at WH Smith it wants sorting out, it is disgusting. They need to bring something down or have someone in charge of the lift.”

A WH Smith spokesman said: “We apologise for any inconvenience and discomfort caused to the two customers when the lift briefly stopped working.

“From our records, a member of staff was able to ensure the lift was fully operational within a few minutes. The member of staff escorted the two customers to the ground floor where they were offered a chair and a drink of water.

“Naturally we will investigate the incident fully. We are working closely with the local Access Group in order to ensure that our store remains accessible for all our customers.”

[johnsouthwales]

if the alarms weren't working, then that's a muck up to start.. thats a whsmith problem unfortunatately not post offices. must have been embarrassing at least, lot of others would have panicked.. but what if it had been worse?

[andy2007]

You're right about it being WHSmiths responsibility to ensure that the lift was properly maintained. But if the proper Post Office hadn't been closed, they wouldn't have needed to be in that lift in the first place.