A 99-year-old gran had to be carried downstairs to her own birthday party after a broken lift left her trapped in her flat for three weeks.
Ruby Dean cannot use the stairs of her Wavertree sheltered accommodation Grange Court and relies on a chair lift to get up and down.
But the lift has been broken for weeks and Ruby says she currently has to rely on others to get food for her.
The only person she can visit unassisted is the hairdresser who lives down her hallway.
Her housing association, Plus Dane, have apologised and said work to fix the lift will happen today.
Ruby, who worked in a factory that made Wellington bombers during the Second World War, said it took her family members carrying her downstairs to get her to her 99th birthday a few weeks ago.
She said: “Since the chair lift has been out of order, which is now three weeks, I've not been able to get out at all.
“All I can go to is hairdresser the along the corridor.
“My family did take me out for my 99th birthday but that meant that there were four grandsons and my son-in-law that had to carry me down the stairs in my wheelchair.
“There was somebody standing at the back and somebody standing further down the stairs to check everything was alright.”
Ruby said she normally goes out quite a lot but has been left unable to get out of her building unaided.
And she said that outside of her own family she 'doesn't feel as if anybody's really bothered'.
Plus Dane's executive director for neighbourhoods Andrea Howarth said they had tried to help residents while the lift was broken but apologised for the inconvenience it caused them.
Ms Howarth said: “We are really sorry for the inconvenience that our residents have experienced while this lift has been out of service.
“There have been two major faults on the lift and we have been working with our contractors to get the parts so that the repairs can be carried out as quickly as possible to minimise the impact on residents.
“These repairs are due to take place on Friday and the lift should be back in use by the end of the day.
"We have provided extra support to residents to help them with shopping, moving bulky items and emptying rubbish while the lift has been out of service but we appreciate that this has only partially reduced the difficulties they have experienced.
“We have apologised to our residents and continue to do so and we thank them for the patience and understanding they have shown while this issue has been ongoing.”
