“Trapped in Their Own Homes: Rainham Residents Slam ‘Unacceptable’ Lift Failures”

Residents living in Duxbury House on Fairlane Road, Rainham, say they have had enough of the repeated lift failures in their building — after yet another breakdown is believed to have left a disabled woman stranded outside the block of flats with her two children for hours.

The lifts in the L&Q Housing Association property have reportedly been out of service multiple times since the block opened two years ago. On Friday, both lifts stopped working once again, causing major disruption and frustration for residents.

Hailey, who lives in Duxbury House, told The Havering Daily:
“On Friday both lifts were out of service again. I had to virtually force them to come out and repair the lifts — otherwise, they weren’t coming until Monday morning. This is just not good enough. There are numerous disabled residents here, and families with buggies who can’t get out of their property.”

Residents say that when they sought help, they were met with confusion. Hailey explained:
“For some residents who were trapped and couldn’t get out, they were told to contact Havering Council for temporary accommodation. But when they did, the council referred them back to the housing provider. No matter which way people go, they we’re left stranded.”

The situation has caused particular concern for disabled residents and parents with young children, who say they feel trapped and forgotten.

Hailey added:
“This block has been in use for two years and during that time, the lifts have broken down four or five times, leaving us stuck. We’ve asked for a plan of action to be put in place for when this inevitably happens again, but so far we’ve been ignored. It’s terrible — a new build should not be like this.”

Local Beam Park ward councillor Matt Stanton and Trevor McKeever told The Havering Daily:

“We have been pressing L&Q for more detail and urgency on this issue since serious issues were first reported to them two weeks ago, as readers of the Havering Daily will know, we have been proactive in raising lift issues on the estate” said Cllr Mckeever. “And we have asked L&Q for assurances that they have identified any trends in the lift issues that residents have suffered”.

Councillor Stanton was on site speaking to L&Q staff and residents on Monday and has also taken the step of alerting the London Fire Brigade about the lift issue,.

“Although one of the lifts has been returned to service, residents are rightly concerned that they are one fault away from being trapped again. As the lift that is out of action is the fire-fighting lift, it’s important that the Fire Brigade know when this is out of service, and equally important that L&Q return it to service as soon as possible”.

Following the lift repair on Friday, the lift broke down on Monday morning leaving residents stranded again. It was repaired on Monday afternoon.

Residents are now calling on L&Q to take urgent and lasting action to fix the issue and put proper emergency measures in place to ensure vulnerable tenants are not left trapped again.

Stay up to date with all of our latest updates and content by following us on our social media accounts!

We have created community pages where we will share our up-to-date stories happening in the area. Add the area closest to where you live.