A Glasgow woman was left stranded in her flat for fourteen days after her electric stair lift broke down.
Bernie Hunter, who lives with cerebral palsy, is a power wheelchair user who relies on a lift to get in and out of her flat, which is eight steps above street level. Her chair is too heavy to be carried manually, meaning that the broken lift is her lifeline.
The lift is maintained by Cordia, an arms length organisation who deliver home services for Glasgow City Council.
At the beginning of April, the system broke down. Luckily an engineer came out in time to repair it within two days and allow Bernie to continue her day to day life. Sadly, though, a few days later it was broken again.
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This time, on April 15, the engineer did not have the part in stock required to fix the lift. In fact, four different companies were involved in the long process of re-ordering it.
In the end, the process of reordering the part took two weeks, with the lift finally operations again on April 29.
This left Bernie stranded in her flat, with no way to get to her job or social appointments.
Speaking to Glasgow Live last week while still stranded, Bernie explained her frustration at being stuck inside with no way to get out.
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She said: “There are four different companies involved in the process of ordering the part: Cordia, Handicare, Pollock Lifts (Ireland) and Cama Lifts (Denmark). The order has to go through these four companies and when the part is dispatched. This means that the whole process takes longer, I just don't know why there's that many companies who are required to deal with the one thing.
“I am very annoyed with the company's attitude towards my situation, they don't seem to realise that I am a human being and my life has been put on hold for the past ten days. It is not like your car breaking down, you can just find alternative ways to travel but a wheelchair lift is totally different.
“As a result of my lift breaking down, I have been stuck in my house with no access outside. I have had to cancel my work commitments and my plans for the holiday weekend too. It's really worrying for me too, if there was an emergency I couldn't get out of my property.”
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Bernie herself is 24 and lives with her parents, both of whom are in their 60s. And worryingly this is not the first time she has been stranded, with a similar incident taking place at Christmas.
She said: “The exact same thing happened in 2017, I was stuck in for ten days over Christmas.
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“I thought there might have been some sort of improvement with the system but I'm shocked that nothing has changed and its people who rely on stair lifts as part of their daily lives, like myself, that are suffering.”
A council spokesperson told Glasgow Live: “We apologise for the length of time however due to the specialised nature of the lift (there are only a handful) sourcing the required parts can take longer than normal.
“Thankfully, the lift is now working and can be used by the client.”
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