A heavily pregnant woman, who was among those stranded at the void deck of Block 569 Pasir Ris Street 51 after the only working lift in the block broke down, had to climb up 11 floors to her unit despite being unwell.
Her husband, Jason, told Stomp that the other lift was undergoing upgrading and that several residents and delivery riders were stranded at the block’s void deck when the working lift also broke down:
“The lift was down from 1pm and was spoilt for the entire afternoon. There is only one lift as the other lift is undergoing upgrading works. Many aunties and the elderly using wheelchairs could not go home. Parents with prams could not return to their homes either.”
Revealing that the lift breakdown “caused a great inconvenience to pregnant ladies and the elderly,” Jason said that his wife needed to climb 11 floors up to reach their flat: “She needed to use the toilet and go home to rest. And today, she is not feeling well.”
Jason added that the Town Council office was closed when residents phoned the office for help and the Essential Maintenance Service Unit also threw up their hands when asked to help: “We called the Essential Maintenance Service Unit (EMSU) but they told us they cannot do anything. We tried calling the town council, but the office was closed.”
A Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council spokesman has since said that lift technicians were deployed to the block as soon as they were notified. A spokesperson who apologised for the inconvenience faced by residents told Stomp:
“We would like to extend our apologies to our residents for the inconvenience caused. Upon notification of the lift incident at Block 569 Pasir Ris Street 51, the Town Council deployed the lift technicians to attend to the affected lift immediately.
“We have verified using footage from our Lift Surveillance System that the lift was turned on for our residents use at 2.47pm. We have deployed our officer to go down to check the lift at 3.05pm and he verified that the lift was in operations.
“The RC manager from the Coral Ris RC also went to the lift lobby at 5.40pm and informed us that there was no one waiting at the lift lobby.”