Trapped, tetchy - but no apology

A woman who was stuck in Palmerston North's Farmers lift with her 15-month old child for over an hour on the stores' opening day can't believe she did not get an apology.

Julie Thorneycroft, her son Alex and her elderly mother Lyn were trapped in the Farmers lift with another couple and their two children – aged five months and two years – for an hour and 20 minutes yesterday morning.

Mrs Thorneycroft said the drama began at about 10am, when the lift made a thudding noise and jolted to a stop soon after leaving the children's section on the second floor of the new Farmers building.

Realising they were stuck, they pressed the alarm button – and were surprised to be answered by a woman in Wellington.

"We were trying to make light of it without getting too panicky, so we started laughing and said `oh no do we have to wait for somebody to come from Wellington'," Mrs Thorneycroft said. "She said `it's not funny you know' and hung up."

After waiting for half an hour, the group pressed the button again to be told there would be a local technician arriving shortly.

Twenty minutes later, the lift was getting stuffy and children were becoming "hot and tetchy," Mrs Thorneycroft said.

Finally they heard a thud and the doors slid open, to reveal a lift technician.

"We were pretty gutted, so when the door finally opened I thought there would be someone there to say sorry.

"As my mum said, `thank god I've got a good ticker.' They didn't ask if we were OK, or if we had any health conditions. I'm just a bit p..... off ... it doesn't make me want to rush up to Farmers again."

Farmers manager Kevin Crawford said he had not known of the problem, and would contact Mrs Thorneycroft immediately.

- © Fairfax NZ News