Woman and grandson in lift drama

FIREFIGHTERS had to cut a grandmother and her eight-month-old grandson free from a lift after it got stuck between floors.

Linda Warde and her grandson, Jack, had been visiting the newly refurbished Letchworth Arts Centre in The Arcade when the lift jammed on its way down to the ground floor.

The 60-year-old grandmother, of Cloisters Road in Letchworth GC, said: "We went up in the lift and it was fine, but when we got back into it, it went down about two feet and there it remained."

Mrs Warde, who retired from teaching at Letchworth's St Christopher School last summer, explained that she pushed the alarm button but nobody came for about 15 minutes.

She said: "For the first few minutes I thought someone was bound to come but when nobody did I started to worry.

She added: "Jack was a screaming baby and he was very distressed. I used up my full repertoire of nursery rhymes trying to comfort him.

"The thing that really upset him was me hammering on the lift door and shouting for help, but I had to because nobody was coming."

Eventually somebody heard Mrs Warde's cries for help and the fire service was called.

The lift had to be manually wound down to the next floor, which took about half an hour.

The fire service then had to cut the pair free because the doors would not open.

Mrs Warde said: "It was quite an experience and I was a bit shaky.

"Perhaps really it needs something other than an alarm nobody hears. Maybe it should have a flashing light on the outside.

"I probably won't ever go in that lift again."

A spokesman for Letchworth Arts Centre said: "The alarm wasn't situated in a place where it could be heard but it is now being resited.

"The lift engineer detected that the lady had stopped the lift. We would like to apologise for the lady's inconvenience.