Call for lift responsibility

Now the service is calling on landlords to take responsibility and release riders promptly — before they dial 999.

Two of last year’s call-outs were to flats on Clifton Lane in the town centre, one was to a business on nearby Frederick Street and one was to a care home on Sandygate, Wath-upon-Dearne.

This pales in comparison with Doncaster or Sheffield, which saw 14 and 38 lift rescues respectively.

But each one was a “special service” call outside firefighters’ normal duties, taking up time and resources.

A South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue spokesman said the service should only respond where other efforts failed, stressing that others should try to help first.

Phil Shillito, head of prevention and protection, said: “As well as being time consuming for the fire service to deal with, being trapped in a lift can be frightening and uncomfortable.

“It should be up to the person in charge of the building whose lift has broken down to fix the problem.”

Lift owners are responsible for making arrangements to recover trapped riders. This includes providing a release service through a lift engineering or similar company.

Training staff to release people who are shut in a lift, ensuring those trapped can raise the alarm informing lift users about what to do if stuck are also important.