People stuck in 26-storey tower block after lifts broke offered £100 voucher
Residents trapped up an iconic Brutalist tower block have been offered only £100 in compensation despite being unable to leave their homes.
Those living in the top floors of the 26-storey Balfron Tower, east London, have been periodically stuck in their flats as the lifts keep breaking down.
They told Metro one of the lifts in the Grade II-listed tower is temperamental and the second one stopped working completely last in May.
Vasundhata Gupte, 22, cannot walk up and down the stairs because of a hamstring injury.
She said: 'I am coming back from recovery sessions for my leg, but I then have to walk up 15 flights of stairs so what is even the point in trying to fix it.'
The Ernő Goldfinger building, on the Brownfield Estate, is managed by property firm Way of Life and two-bed flats typically cost around £2,300 a month to rent.
Fellow resident Peter, 58, has a spinal injury so cannot use the stairs at all.
He said: 'What if there is a fire? What if I have a heart attack? Who will come and get me? Lives are at stake here.'
Residents have since been offered an e-voucher from Poplar Harca, which owns the building, worth £100 for the 'inconvenience', the Standard reports.
Peter, in a letter to MP Apsana Begum, said: 'After everything we've endured, to be offered a flat-rate token – not even per person – is not only inadequate, it is downright insulting.
'This gesture minimises the severity of the situation and shows a complete lack of understanding (or concern) for the distress and damage caused.'
Harca said: 'The service outage was the result of a unique, highly unfortunate and unlikely component failure, that could not have been foreseen or prevented.
'Throughout the period when lifts were not operational, all building safety requirements were fully adhered to. The safety of all residents was and remains our absolute priority and our contingency plans for this situation were signed off by the London Fire Brigade. More Trending
'The Balfron Tower team brought in additional on-the-ground support for residents, and provided specific support to those with additional needs.
'Engineers worked hard to restore service as quickly as possible, which required the expedited production and delivery of bespoke components from a supplier in Germany. The first lift was operational from 20th May and the second lift was operational from 23rd May.
'The lifts were and continue to be serviced on a frequent and best practice schedule.'
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: Three men appear in court accused arson attacks on properties linked to Keir Starmer
MORE: Hot weather to finally return but not before we endure a drenching
MORE: Enjoy a sky-high brunch at The Shard for £55: 10 unmissable Time Out deals
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
10 hours ago
- Metro
Shipwreck mystery solved 140 years later after extraordinary discovery
A 19th century ship that sunk off the coast of Plymouth has been found 140 years later. The SS Nantes sank in November 1888 killing 23 crew members and the ship's whereabouts have been unknown until now. It is all thanks for deep sea diver Dom Robinson that the forgotten ship has now been found – 246 feet deep, 30 miles southeast of Plymouth. He found a piece of crockery in the water and saw it bore the stamp 'Cunard Steamship Company' which helped identify the vessel. Dom told Metro: 'It was a Eureka moment when I found the plate and could make that connection. 'It feels like I've honoured those who lost their lives in the sinking because of solving that mystery. 'Out of all my deep sea dives this one was definitely up there as the best because it was so unsuspected.' Conditions were poor on the day that the steam ship was hit by the German sailing vessel Theodor Ruger. The vessel pierced into the side of the Nantes and tore a big hole on the side which eventually caused it to sink. The crews on the Nantes were unable to escape because the collision damaged the lifeboats. Out of everybody on board, only three people survived, including one man found at sea and two who jumped off. Dom shared his story on his YouTube account and said that deep water diving is his 'way of life'. 'To be able to solve mysteries and have this sense of adventure is exciting,' he said. 'By doing this it feels good because it brings these people's stories back to life. 'I won't stop deep water diving.' More Trending Dr Harry Bennett is an expert in maritime history at Plymouth University and gave his reaction to Metro. He said: 'Every wreck tells a story and this one is important because it tells a human story. 'It highlights the every day perils of maritime travel, particularly during a time when many ships ended up crashing. 'We have forgotten a lot of our history and finds like this highlight the dangers of maritime travel even today. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Arsenal hero Jack Wilshere named favourite to take Wayne Rooney's old job
Metro
15 hours ago
- Metro
People stuck in 26-storey tower block after lifts broke offered £100 voucher
Residents trapped up an iconic Brutalist tower block have been offered only £100 in compensation despite being unable to leave their homes. Those living in the top floors of the 26-storey Balfron Tower, east London, have been periodically stuck in their flats as the lifts keep breaking down. They told Metro one of the lifts in the Grade II-listed tower is temperamental and the second one stopped working completely last in May. Vasundhata Gupte, 22, cannot walk up and down the stairs because of a hamstring injury. She said: 'I am coming back from recovery sessions for my leg, but I then have to walk up 15 flights of stairs so what is even the point in trying to fix it.' The Ernő Goldfinger building, on the Brownfield Estate, is managed by property firm Way of Life and two-bed flats typically cost around £2,300 a month to rent. Fellow resident Peter, 58, has a spinal injury so cannot use the stairs at all. He said: 'What if there is a fire? What if I have a heart attack? Who will come and get me? Lives are at stake here.' Residents have since been offered an e-voucher from Poplar Harca, which owns the building, worth £100 for the 'inconvenience', the Standard reports. Peter, in a letter to MP Apsana Begum, said: 'After everything we've endured, to be offered a flat-rate token – not even per person – is not only inadequate, it is downright insulting. 'This gesture minimises the severity of the situation and shows a complete lack of understanding (or concern) for the distress and damage caused.' Harca said: 'The service outage was the result of a unique, highly unfortunate and unlikely component failure, that could not have been foreseen or prevented. 'Throughout the period when lifts were not operational, all building safety requirements were fully adhered to. The safety of all residents was and remains our absolute priority and our contingency plans for this situation were signed off by the London Fire Brigade. More Trending 'The Balfron Tower team brought in additional on-the-ground support for residents, and provided specific support to those with additional needs. 'Engineers worked hard to restore service as quickly as possible, which required the expedited production and delivery of bespoke components from a supplier in Germany. The first lift was operational from 20th May and the second lift was operational from 23rd May. 'The lifts were and continue to be serviced on a frequent and best practice schedule.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Three men appear in court accused arson attacks on properties linked to Keir Starmer MORE: Hot weather to finally return but not before we endure a drenching MORE: Enjoy a sky-high brunch at The Shard for £55: 10 unmissable Time Out deals
Metro
2 days ago
- Metro
Manga comic predicts 'great disaster' in July 2025 - what could it mean?
Andrea Horbinski, 40, isn't that fussed that Japan could face Armageddon in only a few weeks. Horbinski, who holds a PhD in Japanese history, knows all too well that a 2021 manga has predicted a 'great disaster' will hit the country in July. The complete edition of Watashi ga Mita Mira (The Future I Saw), by Japan's answer to Nostradamus, Ryo Tatsuki, says it will occur on July 5. The unfounded claims have convinced some superstitious tourists to cancel their holidays, fearing a 'mega-earthquake'. Not Horbinski, though. The San Francisco Bay Area local landed in Tokyo this week – while in the city, she bought a copy of The Future I Saw. 'I'd heard about it a bit from people on social media,' she told Metro, 'and I'm always interested in reading interesting manga.' The Future I Saw, published in 1999, is made up of 15 dreams that Tatsuki ad in 1985 when her mother handed her a notebook. The cover shows pages from her 'dream diary'. 'Boom!' one entry reads, depicting the once 'beautiful as a postcard' Mount Fuji erupting as storm clouds gather. Another has an image of Princess Diana with the words, 'The dream I saw on August 31, 1995. Diana? What is it?', while one cryptically mentions a 'death anniversary' and the date June 12, 1995. But the most alarming among them: 'Great disaster happens in March 2011.' Some readers saw the Tōhoku earthquake in March 2011, among the strongest ever recorded in Japan, as the 'great disaster' Tatsuki dreamt of. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake set off a devastating tsunami that sent towering walls of water slamming into the northern coast, killing 19,700. Of the 15 dreams, 13 have come true, more or less, including the deaths of Diana and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, as well as a pandemic in 2020 – the coronavirus. A reprint of the graphic novel included the July prophecy and has gained cult status, with more than one million copies sold since 2021, according to the publisher, Asuka Shinsha. 'A crack will open up under the seabed between Japan and the Philippines, sending ashore waves three times as tall as those from the Tōhoku earthquake,' the book says, adding that the seas will 'boil'. Tourism in Japan has been booming for years. This year alone, more than 10,500,000 international tourists have visited, with nearly 3,500,000 in March, according to tourism officials. But airline bookings to Japan from Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea have plummeted in recent months, an analysis by Bloomberg found. Reservations from Hong Kong fell 50% in April compared to last year, while those booked for late June to early July tumbled 86%. Hong Kong travel agencies have said they're seeing fewer bookings because of the 'earthquake prophecy'. 'After discussing it with my family, we cancelled our trip to Japan in July and August,' one spooked tourist told the Hong Kong paper Headline Daily. 'The earthquake has been widely reported in the newspapers and everyone is saying the same thing, so we decided to avoid it just to be safe. We have chosen to travel to Europe instead. Horbinski said: 'This manga being credited with a decrease in bookings shows the powerful role manga can play in people's imaginations. 'But while I'm sure some people are holding off on travelling to Japan due to this manga's dire predictions, I suspect the overall decrease probably has more to do with increasing global fears of an economic recession.' Some holidaymakers believe Tatsuki's bleak prediction is one that seismologists have long anticipated – a 'mega-quake' hitting Japan. Government officials say there's an 80% chance it will happen in the next 30 years, with a death toll of 298,000 in the worst-case scenario. Stewart Fishwick, professor of geophysics and Head of School at the University of Leicester, said there's no need to panic – or cancel your holiday – just yet. Earthquakes happen when two tectonic plates butt heads and one slips under the other, causing a burst of energy. Japan sits on top of four major tectonic plates, Fishwick told Metro, making it likely to experience tectonic activity. 'Given the location, and the number of people who would be affected by a great earthquake, and any resulting tsunami, there is a necessity to be aware of the risks and to consider what mitigations (to limit damage and loss of life) can be put in place,' he explained. While a 'mega-earthquake' could be on the cards for this century, the chances of it are lower than some think. Fishwick said: 'Even the 80% chance in the next 30 years is at the very high end of the range of forecasts that have been made for this area – others put it at around 10-30%.' Dr Ian Stimpson, a senior lecturer in geophysics at Keele University in Staffordshire, said that if seismologists and soothsayers have one thing in common, it's being unable to predict when a major quake will happen. More Trending 'There are strong earthquake-resistant building codes and intensive monitoring by networks of seismometers and GPS stations,' he said. 'Whilst knowledge of the geology, the historical record of earthquakes in the region, and seismic monitoring allow the forecasting of earthquakes, suggesting areas with a high probability of an earthquake occurring over the next few decades, the precise time, location and magnitude of a particular earthquake cannot be predicted.' Tatsuki, 70, agrees. 'People can think in their own ways, but please don't get too afraid,' she told the Mainichi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper. 'Listen to experts and stay calm.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Is it safe to travel to Turkey right now? Latest advice after 5.8 magnitude earthquake MORE: Girl, 14, killed after Turkey and Greece hit by magnitude 5.8 earthquake MORE: I fell in love with Japan's fourth biggest city – and its lesser-known neighbour
