‘Nightmare’ for Maria after centre lift jams

A Horsham woman has spoken of her ‘nightmare’ ordeal after she ended up trapped in a shopping centre lift.

Maria Prince, 72, said she was looking forward to enjoying a trip to Swan Walk Shopping centre but her day out ended in disaster.

“What would have been a pleasant experience turned into a nightmare,” she said. after the lift jammed between the first and second floors.

“The doors kept opening and closing and nothing else happened.

“Trying not to panic, I contacted security and was told that he would contact the engineers. However, he did not know how long that would take.”

Time passed very slowly in the lift and Maria, who suffers from fibromyalgia, said her legs and back ached more and more, and she was forced to sit on the uncomfortable floor. After 40 minutes an engineer arrived and ten minutes later she was freed – but has vowed to avoid the lifts in future.

Gill Buchanan, centre manager for Swan Walk Shopping Centre, said: “Swan Walk takes customer safety very seriously and we are aware of the incident on April 15. Unfortunately issues with lifts do arise and we have to wait for an engineer to attend.

“I spoke to the customer shortly after the incident two weeks ago and was able to explain this and obviously apologised for the distress and inconvenience caused.

“We also offered to have to have her coat cleaned and are just waiting for this to be dropped off.”