{"id":396496,"date":"2025-09-04T05:59:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T05:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/396496\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T05:59:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T05:59:14","slug":"they-know-im-trapped-in-here-but-theyre-not-interested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/396496\/","title":{"rendered":"‘They know I’m trapped in here but they’re not interested’"},"content":{"rendered":"

ForHousing Association has apologised to residents for the inconvenience caused by a broken down lift\"RobertRobert Symes at his flat at Merecliff Heights in Stockbridge Village(Image: Colin Lane\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

A man from Stockbridge Village said he was trapped in his flat for three days after the lift in a tower block broke down. Robert Symes, 68, has lived in Merecliff Heights for the last eight years and said there are several maintenance and security issues within the block, including \u2018constant issues\u2019 with the two lifts.<\/p>\n

Merecliff forms part of a large housing development built during the 1960s for people displaced by slum clearance. The area was originally known as Cantril Farm, but was renamed \u2018Stockbridge Village\u2019 in 1983 and began a process of regeneration.<\/p>\n

The block is now owned by ForHousing after it took over from Village Housing Association during the course of Mr Symes\u2019 tenancy, but he believes conditions have worsened on the estate in recent years and cites a broken entrance door and lift problems as the main issues.<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Symes at his flat at Merecliff Heights in Stockbridge Village(Image: Colin Lane\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

There are two lifts at Merecliff Court, one which serves the even numbered floors, and another which serves the odd-numbered floors. This time, Mr Symes said the lift servicing the even-numbered floors had broken down, meaning every other resident has to use the one remaining lift.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Mr Symes, he said the lift servicing his floor was broken and he cannot access his home from the other lift due to mobility issues. He explained: \u201cThe lift hasn\u2019t been working for three days, it\u2019s ridiculous. It\u2019s a nightmare for me and I just can\u2019t get out because of my health issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had eight heart attacks and my knees have completely gone. I\u2019m actually waiting to get some replacement knees but we\u2019ll see how long that takes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have to use stairs to access the other lift, but they know I can\u2019t use the stairs, they know about my conditions so they know I\u2019m just trapped in here until the lift starts working again, but they\u2019re not really interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Symes at his flat at Merecliff Heights in Stockbridge Village(Image: Colin Lane\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Nigel Sedman, Executive Director of Homes at ForHousing, said: \u201cWe are sorry for the disruption caused by the broken-down lift and for the inconvenience this has caused Mr Symes and other tenants at Merecliff Heights.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teams were made aware of the issue on Monday, and a contractor attended the next day with the lift now fully back in service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another concern for Robert is the security and safety of the building. On visiting the estate, the Liverpool ECHO<\/a> found the front security door to Merecliff Heights was open and pulled away from the magnetic lock.<\/p>\n

Mr Symes said he has also raised this issue, adding: \u201cIt might get fixed \u2013 not always \u2013 but it’s soon broken again. It\u2019s not unusual for me to go and put my bins down and see groups of young people just stood about in and around the stairwells.<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Symes at his flat at Merecliff Heights in Stockbridge Village(Image: Colin Lane\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI\u2019ll be honest with you, the caretaker is the only one you can rely on. He\u2019s a nice lad and he\u2019s here everyday. Some of the mess he has to clean up is just unreal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get letters from the landlord about people tailgating us to get in the block, but they don\u2019t have to because the door is wide open. The door has been broken now for the last nine days and when it\u2019s not broken its wedged open, so I don\u2019t see why we bother having a door at all to be honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are coming in here all the time and you have no idea whether they live here or not. It\u2019s just not safe and it\u2019s certainly not secure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Sedman from ForHousing added: \u201cWe\u2019re committed to supporting our tenants and making sure they are safe and comfortable in their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ForHousing Association has apologised to residents for the inconvenience caused by a broken down liftRobert Symes at his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,6333,458,179,456,44876,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-396496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-housing","12":"tag-knowsley","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-real-lives","15":"tag-stockbridge-village","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115144502079486584","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}