Residents at The Wharf retirement complex in Calne town centre, have been left high and dry for weeks due to a broken lift.
Residents living on the upper floors at The Wharf say they have no way of getting up and down other than using stairs, which many of them aren't physically able to do without help.
This has led to many residents having to stay in their accommodation, missing social interaction, medical appointments and their general freedom.
Management company Green Square Accord reportedly took the decision to take the lift out of service due to frequent power cuts in the building - fearing a resident may get trapped in the lift.
Green Square Accord say the fault is with the power supply which needs to be recitified by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks - SSEN.
SSEN say they have been working on the issue to fix the fault which is underground. While they work on a permanent solution, they have 'reconfigured the local network' to stop the power cuts and provide a reliable supply to the property. This temporary solution had meant no powercuts had been reported since 11th April.
This week, Green Square Accord notified residents in writing that the power supply was being retested and it was hoped the lift service would be restored today, Saturday 11th May.
Calne News have learned that although the lift service was indeed working again today, there was another power surge and the lift has now stopped working again.
The frequent power surges have understandably caused concern for the safety of the entire building. One resident's son contacted us to say: "If that is causing the lift to fail, then it should be investigated by SSEN to confirm the building's electricity is safe."
A spokesperson from GreenSquareAccord told us: “We can confirm that the lift at The Wharf in Calne has unfortunately been out of service for several weeks.
“There is a fault with the electrical energy supply from SSE, which unfortunately isn’t in our control. We are working with SSE to get a permanent solution and we are currently testing the lift to see if it can be safely used. We will let our customers know the outcome of this investigation.
“In the meantime, our colleagues at The Wharf are doing all they can to support our customers getting up and down the stairs.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers is our top priority, and we are committed to getting the lift working safely again as soon as possible.”
Calne News has approached SSEN for comment - NB press offices aren't open at weekends.
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