I don’t know what else to do, please help!

[Sausagerolleater]

Hi this is my first ever post, I’ve been here for a while and read other people’s posts but have never replied or posted before. I’m not even sure if I’m posting this in the right place so I apologise if not.
I really need some advise if possible please because I just don’t know what else to do. This might be a bit long but I don’t want to miss things out. I have a spinal cord injury so am in a wheelchair and live in an adapted flat that I rent from a housing association. My flat is on the ground floor but there is an underground car park where my car is parked. The only way for me to get to the car park and my car is in a lift. There is a main front door to the building however there are 3 automatic push button fire doors in between and another tenant has decided that he doesn’t want to use the push buttons so has broken them and they are too heavy for me to push open so I can get out that way, there are also no dropped curbs so I can’t get anywhere. Anyway on the 2 March 2025 I was in the lift and it broke down in between floors, the emergency button didn’t work and there was no mobile phone signal, luckily my mum was with me as I have quite bad anxiety and panic attacks so this was my worst nightmare! After more than 2 hours a neighbour happened to notice us in the lift and called the fire service. The fire service got my mum out using a ladder, however it was a little more difficult for them to get me out due to my wheelchair so they had to hoist me out the lift, I was so embarrassed and in huge amounts of pain. The lift was declared unsafe as the floor had become detached from the rest of the lift so we are very lucky we didn’t fall through. The housing association has still not fixed the lift, I keep calling and made a complaint but they just keep saying they are waiting for a part or the engineer got stuck in traffic etc. it’s been almost 3 months of being trapped in my flat and I’m starting to really struggle. I’ve missed multiple medical appointments, I desperately need to see the dentist and my doctor keeps calling me because I’m late with attending routine appointments. Can anyone think of anything I can do to try and get this sorted please? Thank you so much

Contact the Safeguarding Officer at the local council, as well as the Fire Brigade.
Failing all else, contact solicitors with Legal Aid contracts in housing and/or public law for urgent advice and action.
https://find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk/

Look up your local councillors and email them. Your council might also have a cabinet member for housing / communities so contact them too. They might be able to do something about dropped kerbs too.

Stop emailing and start phoning. Phone the Council every single morning. Phone your MP every single day. Phone the daily mail. Start posting on SM let everyone know your plight. Name and shame your LA, they have had enough time to sort this out and are now lying to you. You have been treated appallingly.

I wonder if the council would consider rehousing you because your present accommodation doesn't meet your needs?

They would if you were in private rented accommodation, so it's worth asking.

This is terrible. I’ve got no further advice but wanted to post to show solidarity!

I have huge sympathy for people with mental ill health but as a society we aren’t doing a person any favours by ignoring their behaviour if it has potential to harm others or themselves.

I know. I just wondered if the OP had one.

Hotels
should take service dogs - and lots of hitels
sre dog friendly. Eg lots of premier inns are.

Hotels (and everywhere infact) have to take assistance dogs. It's the law.

PA = Personal Assistant. You can see if you qualify for direct payments and you can pay for someone to help with care and getting you out the house.

The Daily Mail & the Sun exist for just this thing. Publicly shame the HOUSING DEPT.

Fire brigade have a bit more time, contact the local station amd have them send someone to safety assess. They can chase housing association on your behalf.

Cobstantly broken doors and lift make this flat totally unsuitable for you. It really sounds like you need to move to a ground floor flat with your own level access outside and to the car. If you can add any other needs, then make sure it is included in every contact to the housing association. Sorry you're going through this, it's awful.

Hi everyone
I’m so sorry I disappeared on you all, I’ll be totally honest with you, even though it sounds so stupid, but the last few years I’ve felt invisible, isolated and really lonely, especially these last 3 months. I don’t have any friends, I do have family who are very supportive. I don’t use social media really and I don’t know what made me get the courage to post here the other day but I fully expected to get either no replies or get some mean replies. What I didn’t expect is to get so many people taking the time to post really helpful and supportive messages and I felt so overwhelmed. So I want to say a huge thank you, for the first time in a long time I don’t feel lonely and invisible ☺️

MP - should hold a surgery every week. Insist on an appointment, stress H&S issues, fire risk etc.

Local councillors ditto, they should come out and see for themselves.

Someone from higher level of Housing Department also needs to come out to check situation.

Get in touch with CAB/disability right organisations, they will tell you what your rights are. (Actually do this earlier on as then you know your rights and can’t be fobbed off).

Unless you can get funding for 24 hour care a PA won’t help for this as you cannot rely on them being with you when you may need to escape.
As a separate issue, a PA would be good for a set number of hours per week as you shouldn’t have to rely on your DM for assistance.

for all of the above you can telephone first, but get their names and follow up with an email, include a synopsis of the conversation such as

you explained that…..I confirmed that…… you agreed that it was urgent…. you thought it would be done by….etc.

Good luck, although it absolutely shouldn’t be down to luck at all, and keep us posted.

This is a shocking situation. The Housing Association needs to ensure your safety.

As others have said, you need to get a local Councillor involved. Do you live in a unitary authority or a tiered one? If you're in a tiered authority, you need to contact your District Council not the County Council, as the District Council has responsibility for housing.

I would also ask for a care assessment as you may qualify for support with activities of daily living. If you're in a tiered authority area then that's done by the County Council.

Good luck with it all.

You matter. You’re important and you matter. I’m sorry you’re lonely, I have been and it’s so debilitating. I hope you can get a suitable home that you can leave independently, and that that gives you a lift in spirits that helps you make friends. It takes so much effort to advocate for yourself when you’re down - and anyone would be down, very down, stuck inside all the time. But you’re worth it, so do it for yourself. Good luck.

Have you contacted Aspire the charity for people with spinal injuries? They might be able to give you help and advice.

Thank you for the update, OP, and please keep posting. I hope you are able to get somewhere, but it will be great if this thread already makes you feel more connected to people.

I’m sorry I’m not too sure, it’s a London Borough if that helps? I will ask for a care assessment thank you

Oh that is tough on you!

You matter, and so does your predicament. Get on that phone everyday to anyone and everyone - our local MP can be very useful, but it does depend on who your MP is.

And chase up the fire report - that may make a difference. If nothing else, it's something to then send to the MP.

And keep hounding! Remember you matter!

DM me I'm health and safety

@Sausagerolleater if it's a London Borough it will be the same Council for housing and for social care, although different departments.

Please do ask for a care assessment as there may be help and support you're entitled to. The care assessor/social worker should also be able to advise you about facilities and social activities in the community you might not be aware of.

But the real urgency is ensuring your housing situation gets sorted.

Hi Sausagerolleater

have you managed to get anywhere with your housing issues yet?

Hi everyone
I’m sorry I haven’t been back here to update you, we’ve had a family emergency and it’s been a really difficult time and still is.
So I’ve got a few developments to tell you about, on 4 June 2025 the housing association came to visit me with a head security guard and fire Marshall to tell me that they were implementing a waking watch. I had never heard of this and I’ve included part of the email they sent me about it below. Basically from what I understand the building isn’t fire safe and because of my disability they had to come in and find out exactly what my mobility needs are. So they looked at my wheelchair and where it was kept and they put a key safe outside my front door so they can get to me. They have told me that they will have 2 members of staff near my door 24/7 so if there is a fire they will get to me and get me out. They said that the two people would be just to get me out so that I wouldn’t have to wait for staff to finish rescuing anyone else first. This has really unsettled me and I feel a bit anxious knowing that I’m going to have to rely on strangers to get me and my dog out in the event of a fire, which I know the fire service are strangers too but I don’t know, this just feels a little bit more stressful. They did say that someone from health and safety would come the following week to complete a PEEP with me but no one has come.

An update about the lift, it’s still broken! Engineers came out to fix it last week and the next day an insurance inspection was carried out to make sure it’s safe to use and it failed, it’s unsafe to use, not that I ever want to use it again anyway but still other people might. So that’s it, I just want to say thank you again for the support you’ve all given me, I really appreciate it. Here’s the email about the waking watch below, I have removed the name of my building in case I’m not allowed to put it here (I wasn’t sure);

‘We’re getting in touch to let you know we’ve received the initial findings from a fire safety survey carried out at your building by an independent specialist. The survey showed some issues with the fire compartmentation in the buildings, and we want to provide you with some information about the steps we’re taking to help mitigate any risks associated with this.
From today (Wednesday 4 June), we’re putting a ‘waking watch’ in place at your building. This means there will be trained wardens in your building 24 hours a day, seven days a week to raise the alarm in the unlikely event of a fire. This is a temporary precautionary measure which will remain in place until further notice.