A husband says he is disgusted with Huntingdonshire District Council after his wife was stuck in its multi-storey car park lift in Huntingdon for nearly three hours on Friday (November 14).

Wendy Pointer, of The Shrubbery, Hinchingbrooke, was trapped at 9.15am after the machinery failed having moved just a few feet from the first floor.

Husband Kenny was waiting in the car with the couple’s one-year-old son Zachariah for his wife to return.

“Sainsbury’s staff came over and said ‘Are you waiting for your wife? I think she’s stuck in the lift’,” he said.

“I called the council and they said an engineer was on the way but there was only one and they did not know how long it would take.

“Meanwhile, someone had phoned the fire brigade and was told they could not do anything until it had been more than three hours.

“No one from the district council came over to see what was going on. We were both disgusted.”

The lift doors could be prised open just enough for a bottle of water to be passed through. Mrs Pointer was eventually released just before 12noon.

Mr Pointer, who thanked Sainsbury’s staff for their help, said his wife was shaken up but otherwise ok. “I’m wondering why we pay our council tax,” he added. “If they had a dodgy lift, will it take a pregnant woman, an asthma sufferer or an elderly person to get stuck in there before they do anything?”

A spokesman for HDC described it as an “unfortunate incident” and said the family had been offered its sincere apologies. “Once the alarm button in the lift had been activated, engineers from the lift maintenance company were contacted,” she said.

“Unfortunately the lift engineers were not able to attend in a sufficiently timely manner and therefore a member of HDC’s facilities team, as well as two HDC street rangers attended and resolved the situation.

“We are concerned about the length of time it took for the lift engineers to respond, and we will be exploring contract arrangements further with them.”

The lift had been checked and was in full working order, she added, and more staff were to be trained today (Wednesday) in what to do should the same happen again.