A STAIRWAY in a block of flats in Salisbury has become “a death trap” according to people who live there.

The stairs at Fountains House in Blackfriars Way in The Friary were closed off due to vandalism about a year ago.

But Wiltshire Council decided to reopen the stairs last week, despite there being missing panels which leave a drop of about three metres to the ground floor.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable,” said resident Angela Hellis.

“This stairwell is a death trap and you can fall from the top flight to the bottom as nothing is there to stop you.

“And yet this is deemed safe for public use.

“They basically took the locks off the doors and walked away.”

Ms Hellis, 39, has been trying to contact the council to get the dangerous stairway closed off until the panels are fixed.

“But they came out and took off more of the panels and left it like that all over the weekend,” she said.

Ms Hellis previously slipped on the block’s other set of stairs and needed an operation.

She said: “How am I supposed to get downstairs? I can’t go on the left stairs because I’ll fall through and I can’t go on the right because I’ll slip.

“There are some nice tenants here and we care about the block but no matter how much you complain, nothing is done.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We apologise for any concern this may have caused.

“As soon as we became aware of this issue, we immediately carried out the repairs and these have now been completed.”