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

A waking watch is all very well, but the lift is still broken and you are still stuck in your flat!
Contact your mp and the local news- you can usually message them on Facebook- and start getting stroppy with them!

My mum emailed the MP and apart from the automated reply saying that they have received the email, he hasn’t replied, the local newspaper didn’t reply either and neither did the Mail Online. It’s so frustrating because the newspaper had an article about a lift being broken in a block and that was for just a week and it was fixed. No one seems to be interested. I haven’t used my Facebook for about 10 years but maybe I could post on X?

Does you MP have any in person surgeries, or a phone number?

@Sausagerolleater this is outrageous. I am horrified on your behalf.
Are you willing to share what constituency you’re in and maybe we could help find info about your MP / local councillors? So you can contact them.

And yes on this occasion we need a DM 🦇 signal….

Thank you, I’m in the London Borough of Bexley and I believe my MP is Daniel Francis, he didn’t reply to the email my mum sent but maybe if I send a follow up email he might? Thank you for your help 😊

I know in my constituency I have to send my name, address, postcode when I contact my MP.
Did your Mum do this when she emailed?
if she didn’t it may be your email was dismissed as not coming from a constituency member. So yes, if you follow-up and confirm the original email was about you (someone in his constituency) and confirm your address etc, that might help. I’d also put ‘URGENT - fire risk’ in the subject box. And summarise everything you’ve put in this thread.
ChatGPT is very good for this.

All the many ways to contact him are listed here. I’d do all of them:

https://members.parliament.uk/member/5184/contact

This is really shocking.

Thats a good point, I’ve asked her to send me a copy of what she sent and the automated reply to see if she included that information. That’s really helpful thanks, my son is always using ChatGPT so I’ll see if he can help me if I need it. I’ll definitely send a follow up now though

Hi,

I work for Daniel Francis, the Member of Parliament for Bexleyheath and Crayford. Please email [email protected] or call 0207 219 5278 and we can help you.

Many thanks,
Issy

I’m not sure if he does any in person surgeries but I wouldn’t be able to get there but someone has just posted all his information and he does have a phone number, I’m going to send a follow up email to check that my mum sent her email with my address as someone suggested below that this could be why I haven’t had a reply yet

That’s fantastic I’ll do that now, thank you so much Issy

You have the right to be seen and heard and treated with respect as an equal human being. Hopefully you will get things sorted out soon and then maybe it will help your confidence a little bit? To know that you can join in and converse with people, even if it’s just us nutters on here.
Fingers crossed for you that things improve, keep posting.

I can’t believe they are paying for two wardens when they should be rehousing you in something suitable for your needs, insanity! I hope they can resolve this quickly and sensibly for you.

I have sent an email, I’m sorry it’s so long.

Thanks so much for your help Issy

Contact your local MP, your housing officer and the housing ombudsman

Good luck @Sausagerolleater
I hope you get somewhere with this

This is terrible, I really hope you get a result now. I can’t believe how long you’ve had to wait! Good luck, am thinking of you!

I didn't see your original post, but I've caught up now and I'm appalled that the lift is still broken! I really feel for you being stuck in your flat, unable to get out and about. I hope the suggestions made by others in the thread are helpful and things start moving for you. Thinking of you and sending you best wishes x

I think you could very easily take a claim of disability discrimination.
In England it's the EASS (Equality Advice and Support Service) who could help you - in fact you may find that just the threat of a court case will do the trick. If you have to go to court it is a complex and tiring process, but you've every right to do it, hopefully with help or at least guidance from EASS. Good luck with it.

Thank you so much, made me cry, but I hope so, my confidence is nonexistent right now xx

I know it does seem a bit crazy and I hate to think how much the bill is going to be because there seems to be quite a lot of fire Marshall’s about. The housing association have delivered a porta cabin for them to use in the car park but mainly they are sitting in a glass box in the boiling heat and every 45 minutes or so they walk to all the floors of the block scanning barcodes and checking there’s no fires.

Surely to god it would be cheaper to install a new lift than 24/7 waking watch which doesn't help you get out of your flat.

OP I've only just seen this thread, what an absolute disgrace your housing and local authority are.

I hope your MP can help.

Thank you everyone for all your support, help and ideas. Also thank you to Issy from the MP’s office who spotted my post. I emailed the MP and it turns out that they did reply to my mums email but for some reason she didn’t get it and she didn’t give enough information about me for them to contact me 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’ve had a phone call and an email from the MP’s office and the MP is going to be contacting the council on my behalf! I’m so relieved and happy and hopefully, things will start getting sorted. I will keep you all updated but again, thank you for the support, it really means a lot xx

Thank you. The fire safety people informed me that the lift in my building isn’t one of those lifts that you can use in the event of a fire. I think that the waking watch would still have to be here because of the results of the fire safety inspection. They have to go to all floors in the building to alert residents and they have these big fire horns to use. I think it’s just that because I can’t get out independently they have ensured that there’s two fire Marshall’s or guards available 24/7 in case of a fire to get me out. It doesn’t help that both the fire doors and the main door are broken and don’t open with the button anymore and I can’t open them myself as they are so heavy. I also can’t get to the evacuation point outside the car park without the lift, so I think it’s just a really badly designed building for disabled people or people with mobility difficulties. But I could be wrong about that. The email from the housing association explains it better but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to post it here in full, I have posted a little bit of it.