PEOPLE living in a sheltered accommodation scheme in Salisbury were left stranded in their flats for three days after a lift broke down.

The lift at Pembroke House, in Fisherton Street, broke down on Saturday evening and Raglan Housing Association, which manages the home, was unable to get it fixed until Wednesday.

Michael Baldwin returned home from hospital in Oxford on Monday morning to find he was unable to get up to his flat on the third floor.

Mr Baldwin, who went into hospital three weeks ago to have part of his leg amputated, had to be lifted up three flights of stairs by three paramedics.

His occupational therapist knew nothing about the broken lift and said he would have been kept in hospital longer had they been made aware.

Ray Jones, who lives at Pembroke House and represents the residents, said: “A lot of people rely on the lift because they are disabled; they rely on it to get out.

“There are a lot of people stuck in their flats and they can get quite ill mentally. They get cabin fever because they just can’t get out.”

Another resident, Jenny White, added: “I can get down the stairs but I can’t carry anything, I can’t go shopping and I can’t take my washing down to the laundry and back up again.

“You don’t realise how much you use it until you haven’t got it.”

Residents also raised concerns about a lack of management, with no member of Raglan staff on site to help deal with the situation on Monday.

At the time of going to press, Raglan said the lift was due to be fixed yesterday, as a part needed to be ordered before contractors could fix it.

She said: “Unfortunately we were not notified by the hospital that our resident was due to return to the property on Sunday and regret that the emergency services were called to assist him.

“In usual circumstances, if we had been alerted to our resident’s return, we could have made the necessary arrangements to ensure this did not happen.

“We understand our residents’ concerns and are working to ensure the lift is repaired as soon as possible.

“Our retirement living officer was on site at Pembroke House on Tuesday and ensured all our residents were aware of the current status of the lift repair.

“We also identified residents above the ground floor who need additional support, such as purchasing groceries for them, until the lift is back in full working order.”