RETIRED residents living on the top floor of a block of flats were left trapped for days after the lift broke.

Those living at Tabor Place, Nottage Crescent, Braintree, were stuck after the only lift in the property stopped working for almost a week.

Some residents are too frail to use the main staircase at the flats, which are home to more than 40 residents living inde pendently .

One, who has been there for more than a year,said she felt abandoned.

She said: “We have been stuck here and left on our own.

“No-one can come off the floor, as a lot of us can’t deal with the stairs , including me.

“Although we have been checked on by the manager, the whole point of living here and not a care home is being independent.

“We are trapped and it is not a nice feeling, you feel like you are in a prison rather than a home.

“My flat has become more of a cell and I have been feeling lonely and isolated, since I can’t leave to see my family .

“We pay a huge service charge to keep the home running, and even worse, no effort is being made to fix the problem.

“We have not been told when it can be fixed and we were told to stay put as parts were coming from somewhere in Germany to get this lift fixed.”

The flats , run by Firstport Retirement Property Services, have resident management staff, as well as a Careline alarm service .

The lift was broken for five days.

Complaints were made to the Braintree and Witham Times reporter Joseph Laws following claims nothing was being done to help .

A spokesman for the company said: “We are aware that residents at Tabor Place have been without a lift since Tuesday, November 7 and we apologise to them for the inconvenience .

“A contractor has already attended and is sourcing replacement parts from a supplier in Europe .”

The lift was fixed on Saturday, November 11.

The spokesman added: “We fully appreciate the impact that a lift breakdown has on our residents .

“The on-site development manager has been checking on residents daily while the lift has been down, and, while she is on leave FirstPort has sent staff from a nearby development to check in with Tabor Place residents.

Tabor Place is an age-restricted development designed for inde pendent living.

As property manager, FirstPort maintains communal areas and, through an out-of-hours contact centre, in-house personal alarms and daytime on-site staff.