Disabled residents living in sheltered accommodation in the Vale have been trapped in their own homes for 4 weeks due to an out of order lift.
Janet Davies 70, lives in Gwenog Court Barry. She’s currently unable to leave her flat due to an out of service lift and relies on her mobility scooter to get around.
Janet explained: “It’s going into the fourth week tomorrow; We did phone the council up as well and they aren’t much good.
“It was out 6 weeks last year and we pay for that lift.”
The Vale of Glamorgan Council say there has ben a delay to work on the lift as they are waiting for a part to arrive from Germany.
Janet’s friend Janet Crandon, 79, regularly visits the residents at Gwenog Court she explained that her social life has suffered greatly due to the lift being out of operation.
Janet said: “There’s 15 of us who go and have a coffee in the afternoon downstairs, well at the moment there’s about 4 people there because people can’t come down.
“It’s spoiling my social life, it’s my 80th birthday in November, if these people can’t come to it that’ll really upset me because these people are my friends.”
Janet Crandon said: “We’ve got a friend who lives across the corridor she’s in hospital and she’s waiting to be discharged, and she can’t come back because she can’t get up to her flat. She’s been in there 9 weeks.”
An alternative stairlift was proposed by residents to help access the accommodations lower levels but the council said this wasn’t a possibility.
Janet Crandon said: “They could have put a stair lift in which would have been a permanent thing and they could have used it when the lift wasn’t working.
I remember asking some councillor a while back and he came out with ‘oh no our stairs won’t fit a stair lift.’"
The laundry room ceiling has had an ongoing leak issue that hasn’t been resolved and has therefore led to damp in the building.
Residents also claimed that the council promised them new shelters to store their mobility scooters in, but this was never carried out.
Janet Davies said: “We were supposed to have our scooter boxes before Christmas last year and then they said we won’t do it because the ground will be hard.
“Then it was Easter, then May. I just got told that the price to do it all up has gone up.”
A Vale of Glamorgan Council spokesperson commented on the issue and said: “The Council is aware of this issue and has made arrangements for the lift to be repaired.
“There was a delay to this work being carried out as a part had to be ordered from Germany and took time to arrive.
“It has since been delivered and the work scheduled for completion.
“We apologise for the inconvenience this hold up caused.”
Cardiff Lift have also been contacted for a statement.
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