DISABLED residents have been left stranded in their upstairs flats for almost three months after Sanctuary Housing failed to fix the broken lift in their building.

The lift, at the Gainsborough Court sheltered housing complex in Freshbrook, has been out of action since early February.

Mags Denby, 59, lives at Gainsborough Court with her severely disabled husband Jeff, 72.

He cannot walk and relies on his mobility scooter to go anywhere.

Mags said: “When we moved here in December I told Jeff it wouldn’t matter that we were on the first floor because the place had a working lift – he could keep his quality of life.

“But now he hasn’t been out of the flat since February. We’ve had to cancel hospital appointments, opticians appointments, we’ve had to have doctors do home visits and arrange community nurses.

“It was reported to Sanctuary in February – first they said they were installing a new lift, then they said they were waiting for parts, then there was a letter saying it would start on April 11.

“It’s not good enough, we need the lift.”

Engineers finally arrived to start work on Tuesday, but they told residents it would still take at least another three weeks to fix meaning the lift will have been out of action for 16 weeks.

Another elderly resident, who did not wish to be named, is similarly wheelchair bound and has also been confined to her flat.

She has been relying on relatives to bring her shopping to her as she cannot get out.

87-year-old Georgina Dean, has lived at Gainsborough Court for 14 years and is no stranger to lift trouble.

She said: “I won’t get in it by myself anymore after I got stuck three times.

“I struggle with my breathing due to angina but there are people upstairs who just can’t get down.”

Others said they were finding it difficult to carry their shopping upstairs because they had to use crutches and a 63-year-old woman spoke of having to resort to going down the stairs on her bottom.

A spokesperson for Sanctuary said: “The lift is beyond repair and our contractors are on site today working to carry out replacements as quickly as possible.

“There is a large amount of work involved, which will take time to complete and test to ensure that the lift is safe for residents to use.

“As soon as we realised that it would take time to source the necessary parts and carry out the work, we contacted those residents who might need assistance using the stairs to offer them alternative accommodation until the work was completed, but at the time our offers were declined.

“We are sorry for the length of time this is taking, and if any residents would like alternative accommodation until the work is completed we would encourage them to contact us directly.”

Despite these claims, many residents said they had not been offered alternative accommodation.

Those that had been approached said that as Sanctuary were unable to guarantee they would be located on the ground floor or with reliable lift access, they had opted not to leave.