A man who feared for his life after getting stuck inside a lift for seven hours claims he was given a £25 gift card to make amends for his ordeal.
Azizul Rayhan, 27, had to spend an entire night inside an elevator at the council-run Victory Business Centre in Fratton, Portsmouth on July 17 after it suffered a technical failure.
The paralegal from London had pressed the ground floor button to exit the office after collecting items for his brother when the lift suddenly started shaking, and shuddered to an immediate halt.
Fearing he was going to run out of air and the lift would drop, Azizul shouted for help and triggered the emergency alarm — but his pleas fell on deaf ears, as the site security guard had failed to make his scheduled early-hours visit.
A panicked Azizul was only released by a business centre employee at 5:45am the following day, and claims he was given a £25 gift card in an envelope by the centre's manager in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
Recalling the moment he was given the small gift, Azizul told The News: "He came to visit me after the incident and he told me this is from him, personally
"At that moment, I was not in a state to receive or reject it, so I left it on my brother’s desk. He later told me the contents of the envelope which is £25 gift card."
He has since said the lift incident has left him with claustrophobia which means he struggles to use the London Underground, and has also seen him seek talking therapy at his GP.
Azizul also told the local newspaper that he has been disappointed not to be given any information about the fault in the weeks afterwards, and has now called on businesses to check the lifts and call buttons "at least once" every week.
Commenting on his ordeal late last week, a spokesman for Portsmouth City Council, who are responsible for the building, said: "We fully understand what an awful experience this must have been for this gentleman and have every sympathy with him.
"We hire a security company to make routine visits every night between midnight and 3am. The on-site alarm would normally have been heard by their security guard. The guard failed to make the scheduled visit."
The council additionally confirmed that they were undertaking a "full review" of their contract with the security company.
