ON Saturday, July 27 the Echo had a story about an elderly woman stuck in a lift at Ventnor Court, which gave the impression that she was rescued from the lift within 20 minutes.

The reality is that I called the council’s emergency response team at about 8.45pm and about 25 minutes later as no help had arrived and the lady was starting to panic I called the fire brigade, requesting that they arranged for an ambulance to come due to her age and her panicky state.

The fire service did manage to open the lift door about 20 minutes after they arrived, by which time the lady had been in the lift for nearly an hour.

Both the fire service personnel and the paramedics were excellent in the manner they helped and looked after the elderly lady.

The lift repair man did not arrive until after the lady had been extricated from the lift and was unable to repair the lift that night, so the paramedics had to call for a special chair to enable them at about 11.30pm to carry her up to her flat.

I do have reservations about the fact that even after this lady was rescued from the lift there was no equipment in the building to enable her to be conveyed up stairs, and would suggest that as this is a supported housing complex it would be good practice for such equipment to be readily available.

ALAN KEBBELL, Southampton.