DEVON and Cornwall Housing (DCH) has apologised after the fire brigade were called to help an elderly, disabled lady up the steps to her flat because the lift had broken down.

The 86-year-old lady, who lives at Pinder Court in Tavistock which is managed by DCH, has disabilities meaning she is unable to use the steps leading to her flat and would normally use the lift. On Monday (July 18), the lift was broken and so after having been out during the day, the lady returned to the building unable to get back up to her home. She walked to her sister-in-law's house on Old Exeter Road and spent the night.A fire crew was called to help her get back into the flat the following day (July 19).

DCH said that engineers were on site today (Wednesday) trying to fix the lift.

Jo Whittall, operations director for DCH Repairs, said: ’We are truly sorry about the situation that has affected our customers at Pinder Court. Our thanks go out to the community and fire service for coming together to help out when the lift broke down.

’The lift company’s engineers were on site by 11.15am this morning (Wednesday). It is highly unusual for us not to be able to rectify this type of issue in the period of time specified and our teams are monitoring both the engineering and the welfare of our customers at Pinder Court closely.

’We will be looking into the reasons behind the delay to ensure that it doesn’t happen again to any of our customers.’