Disabled Isleworth Residents 'Trapped' for Over a Month

Claim lift failures have confined them to their homes

Zamzam Hassan (centre) with Alaa Barke and Alya Barke in the block of flats in Isleworth. Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon

May 17, 2024

Disabled Isleworth residents claim they were trapped in their homes for almost five weeks after their lift broke down earlier this year. Residents of the five-storey block said the failure was one of several which have taken weeks to fix in their building over the last 12 months.

Zamzam Hassan said that last year she had to cancel important antenatal check-ups because she was unable to get to hospital due to the malfunctioning lift. The 30-year-old, who lives on the second floor of the Hounslow building managed by housing association A2Dominion, also said she had missed weeks of university due to the lifts breaking down over the last 12 months.

Ms Hassan, a wheelchair user, said, “They used to come and fix the lift in maximum two or three days. What happens now it breaks and the most recent time it was nearly five weeks for them to fix it. Before that it was three weeks and the time before that four weeks.

“It’s frustrating that they are not taking it seriously. They don’t consider that we are in mobility houses [flats specifically for disabled people]. I’m not happy how they are treating us.”

She added, “I’ve missed so many weeks of university [because of the broken lifts] and haven’t even been able to go outside for some fresh air. I live in fear, thinking ‘when is the next day it will break down?’ It gets to the point where I don’t even want to leave the flat.”

Another resident of the block, Alaa Barke, 21, who lives on the fourth floor, said she was stuck in her flat for three weeks during one recent breakdown. Her sister Aya Barke, also 21, said she lived in fear of a fire starting in the building during the periods the lifts were out of order.

Aya said, “Imagine if a fire happened or if someone was hurt and needed immediate healthcare? People have lives. They have to get to places and things to do. They can’t be stuck at home all the time.”

Alaa added, “It’s really upsetting when the lift breaks. I had to do work from home for three weeks. I couldn’t go outside. It’s not fair on us.”

Ms Hassan also claimed A2Dominion had refused to make adaptations to the kitchen in her flat so that the worktop was at a height she could reach in her wheelchair. Ms Hassan said the counter top was currently too high for her to reach, despite flats in the building being designated for disabled people.

A2 Dominion said that it was only responsible for ‘minor adaptations’ to Ms Hassan’s property and that the kitchen alterations were classified as ‘major works’ and required her to apply for a disabled facilities grant from Hounslow Council.

Jo Evans, director of repairs and maintenance at A2Dominion, said, “We have been working with Ms Hassan and sent a surveyor to inspect her kitchen. […] We advised Ms Hassan to contact the local authority as they administer this grant, we also advised her to ask for an occupational therapist assessment to ensure any changes will definitely meet her needs.”

Evans added, “We’d like to apologise to customers for the recent issues with the lifts. We know at times this has taken longer than anticipated to fix, due to our lift contractors having difficulty in sourcing parts quickly enough, but we’d like to reassure customers that we take this matter seriously and are working to improve reliability. All lifts are currently up and running, and we’ll be in contact with customers to arrange compensation for the lift outage as per our policy.”

Rory Bennett - Local Democracy Reporter