A 94-YEAR-OLD deaf, disabled woman from Swanage has been stuck on the third floor of her apartment block for more than a month due to a broken lift.

Jean Chinchen, 94, who lives in a block of flats in Swanage has been stuck on the third floor of the building for at least a month.

She is registered blind and disabled and uses a wheelchair. The lift in the building has been broken for more than four weeks now leaving her confined to her home.

Jean said: “I was just hoping that someone can help me because I'm registered blind and I'm crippled.

“I can’t walk and I’m in an automatic wheelchair. I can get around a flat in the wheelchair but I can't get out anymore cause I'm three storeys up and we have a lift which I could use to get down to the grand floor but it's been broken.

“Every time I ask about it they say they can’t get the parts to fix it so I’ve been shut here for two months.

“I am a bit desperate because I can't read. I used to do dressmaking and all sorts, but I can't read now. All I can do is watch TV and everyday I sit there and listen to the TV and go to sleep and then wake up again.

“I'm 94, but I’ve got all my senses, I was born in Swanage and I've stayed here all my life. I'd just like to get out to church, I am desperate.

“We are freeholders but there are people in charge who I pay nearly £2,000 a year for maintenance, and they're supposed to look after the building. And every time I phone the property manager Suttle and Co, they tell me they can't get the parts.

"I felt that if people outside knew that I was shut up, perhaps they would do something. I just want to get down in the lift.

“I have felt desperate because life's no good to me up here. I used to sew and knit and do all sorts of things but I can’t now."

Suttle & Co say they were first made aware of the problem on September 20.

When asked how they planned to get the lift fixed, the spokesperson said: “We are at Kone’s, behest really, they know the part that's needed for their lift.

“They've always serviced the lift and I cannot see how getting any other contract company is going to speed it up really.

“I feel for all the residents, there’s about five of them that can't get out.

“They can't go for jobs, they can't go to the doctor. They can't get out and Kone are aware of it. It's not like it's a secret.”

When contacted, Kone said they could only provide details to Suttle & Co. The accountancy firm has yet to establish when the lift will be fixed.