Residents at an Edinburgh block of flats claim they have been trapped in their own homes for two weeks after delays to repair a broken lift.
The 14-flat St Triduana’s Rest in Restalrigh is home to tenants aged 65 and older and many were unable to leave their homes until The Edinburgh Reporter stepped in and landlords Places for People took emergency action.
The ordeal began two weeks ago when the lift in the 14-flat development simply stopped working.
David Stalker (78) who lives there with his wife, Cath (75), were among the lucky ones even though they live on the fourth floor. They were both able to negotiate the four flights of stairs and go out, but others who live in the 65+ development were not so fortunate.
Following enquiries to the management company by The Edinburgh Reporter, the lift specialists, Otis, who installed the lift in the first place – were called out as an emergency on Monday to fix the lift which is a major relief to residents. It is now working again although the engineers said that two spare parts may still be needed to ensure the lift. Other engineers who have examined the lift in the past few days were unable to assist or fix the problem according to Mr Stalker.
One resident has Parkinson’s and uses a wheelchair, so although she lives on the first floor, keeping medical appointments has been impossible.
Liz Tully who lives on the ground floor of the amenity housing development helps some of the other residents with shopping but that has been made more difficult without access to a lift. She said: “I live on the ground floor so you would think this would not involve me. I’m the youngest in the stair, I try my best to look after the more vulnerable in the stair. I suffer from asthma and need to use the lift to reach these people. Over the last two weeks this has become more essential. It has become very challenging for me as I’ve had to use the stair which has caused me a few breathing difficulties.”
Mr Stalker said: “Places for People have not kept us informed of what’s going on. We thought that they might have been down to see us and see how they could help us until they got the lift problems faces. But no-one has been keeping us informed.”
A spokesperson for RMG Residential Management Group (RMG) which manages this building on behalf of Places for People said: “RMG recognises that there has been a delay in getting the lift repaired for the customers whilst we await receipt of a specialist part, and we are sorry for the time taken to fix it.
“Please be assured that we are treating this matter as an urgent priority, and are working closely with our specialist lift contractor to resolve it. We expect the specialist parts to be delivered shortly and the lift to be back up and running this week. We will continue to keep the Customers fully up to date and will work with Places for People Scotland so those who need assistance can be supported.”
From their website Places for People claims to be award-winning. They say that in 2021, Places for People was crowned Residential Company of the Decade, and they were also awarded the UK’s Best Workplaces™ for Wellbeing and the UK’s Best Workplaces™ (Main National List) from Great Place to Work® in 2023.
One of their promises appears to contradict the experience of those living at St Triduana’s Rest: “We always aim to do the right thing for our Customers, for our Communities, for each other. What is the right thing? Never walking by. Owning it. Picking up the litter. Doing that bit extra. Helping. Giving. Being transparent. Making choices for the right reasons. Never letting anyone down. Running through the line. We know what the right thing is because it’s in our DNA. It’s who we are.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
