# Ever get stuck in a lift?



## z106 (19 Nov 2008)

Was anyone here ever stuck in a lift and if so for how long?


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## dodo (19 Nov 2008)

*Re: Ever stuck in a lift?*

I was stuck in a moment once before


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## Simeon (20 Nov 2008)

Twenty minutes, Gloucester Road tube, about 1980. All three of us strangers. 07.50 on a Saturday morning. Me with wicked hangover. Lift stuck between floors. European woman screamed a little. She had to pee, so we turned our backs. Staff on floor above shouting comforting words at us. All over soon after ........ to be greeted by firemen, engineers and (dare I mention it) rubberneckers. Don't remember being particularly scared.


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## z106 (20 Nov 2008)

I'd freak out if it happened to me. I don't go in them at all.


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## stephnyc (20 Nov 2008)

yes, twice in the same lift in a block of apts I was living in for a few years! luckily i dont travel light & had a book, mp3 player (and a mars bar the 2nd time!) .. so sat on the ground (yuck).. and tried to enjoy it 

btw, who can u ring if the number in the lift isnt answered? I tried 999 but they said it wasnt an emergency! so I tried the local guard station.. who said they'd come but didnt..


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## Jock04 (20 Nov 2008)

Never been stuck in a lift on dry land, but got stuck a good few times in lifts working offshore. Usually only for about 10 minutes, once for half an hour.
Best/worst one was in a lift which went down the leg of the rig at an angle. That was a long 20 minutes.


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## zag (20 Nov 2008)

Happens to me all the time.  Luckily the doors open a little while later and I find myself on an entirely different floor.

I used to work in a shop where one particular lift would get stuck regularly first thing in the morning or at night after it hadn't been used for a while.  I learned pretty quickly to walk up the stairs in the morning or down the stairs if I was late leaving.  It wasn't a nice prospect - getting stuck in the lift in the evening until someone came in the next morning.

z


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## Cheeus (20 Nov 2008)

I got stuck in a lift for 2 hours after a Guinness promotion with three drunks. "Someone" decided to check if jumping up as the lift went down would really leave you suspended. It was the middle of the night so noone could hear us screaming for help. Our rescuers weren't impressed when they opened the lift and found us all with Guinness hats, t-shirts and rubber pints.

Thankfully noone was sick in the lift but two hours anticipating it was punishment enough


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## MandaC (20 Nov 2008)

I got stuck in a lift recently with someone from work. He is the last person you would want to be stuck with as is the most boring individual on the planet.

Was only stuck for a few minutes, but seemed like hours due to boring talk about work.


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## Smashbox (20 Nov 2008)

*Re: Ever stuck in a lift?*



dodo said:


> I was stuck in a moment once before


 
Could you get out of it?


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## Abbica (21 Nov 2008)

*Re: Ever stuck in a lift?*

I was stuck in a lift in Portugal when I was 10, I ran from the swimming pool in my togs to head up to the apartment, soaking wet and got stuck for 1hr 30 on my own. When the hotel finally got the lift working the door opened and I shivered out. Kinda scared but I had a glow watch so wasn't totally in the dark. Needless to say I wasn't missed by my parents. Then my poor dad got stuck in it also a day later for 2hrs and he has severe clostraphobia, he didn't use it again. 10 flights of stairs,


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## deedee80 (21 Nov 2008)

I have really bad claustraphobia it terrible.  Have only ever been stuck in a lift for about 5 mins but it was enough to nearly make me black out.  I instantly panic, if I could control that I would be fine.  I got stuck in my granny's toilet when I was 3 (it was in a flat so literally just a tiny room with a toilet, the wash basin was in another tiny room) and remember it like it was yesterday.  Think it all stems from that!


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## elefantfresh (21 Nov 2008)

I did once about 5 or 6 years ago - was there a good half hour until the door was wedged open from the outside. We were stuck half way up the door I'd say so we were able to lie on the floor of the lift and squeeze out - probably a bit stupid now that i think back - if the lift had started again. Squish!


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## Purple (21 Nov 2008)

Never got stuck in a lift but I was in one once when the brakes failed and the thing dropped about 20 feet before the back-up brakes kicked in. It was scary because it was stopped on a floor and the door was open when it happened.


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## shootingstar (21 Nov 2008)

I suffer severely with claustrophobia. If I get stuck anywhere it puts me into a panic. I would rather 10 flights of stairs then the 20 seconds in the lift. Did a bit of therapy for it but it didnt work. Even if im stuck in very long delays in traffic i tend to get a bit crabby. Anything that will cause me to be restricted really....


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## truthseeker (21 Nov 2008)

shootingstar said:


> I suffer severely with claustrophobia. If I get stuck anywhere it puts me into a panic. I would rather 10 flights of stairs then the 20 seconds in the lift. Did a bit of therapy for it but it didnt work. Even if im stuck in very long delays in traffic i tend to get a bit crabby. Anything that will cause me to be restricted really....


 
Ive a friend suffers this way too, in the past number of years it has gotten worse, now she also hates flying (confined space), she wont sit in the back seat of a 2 door car, she wont use a loo if there is any chance at all of the door sticking (prefers to leave the door open so she knows she can get out), she would rather climb 100 flights of stairs than spend any seconds in a lift etc...

There must be a way to break that cycle.

Ive never been stuck in a lift but seeing as I fell asleep in an MRI machine I doubt itd bother me too much. I might freak out if there was a claustrophobic person freaking out in there with me though!!! Just so they didnt feel alone......


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## Ancutza (21 Nov 2008)

When I was 9 years old I got stuck in a lift with 2 of my like-aged cousins in New York. We were there for 2 and a half hours.

To this day I'll only take the stairs (regardless of how many floors I have to climb) much to the amusment of my wife.  Have to admit to also having issues with any 'space' where I can't seek an immediate out. This includes things like trains in motion and even traffic jams!! Funnily enough I have no problem on planes where there really _is _no out short of a parachute!


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## Complainer (23 Nov 2008)

I was sent a link some time ago to speeded up CCTV footage of a guy stuck in a lift in New York from Friday evening to Sunday evening. Pretty scary stuff, and iirc he had pretty serious mental health issues afterwards. I'm sure you'll find the video with a bit of googling.


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## Purple (23 Nov 2008)

Ancutza said:


> Funnily enough I have no problem on planes where there really _is _no out short of a parachute!


 A parachute wouldn't work if you are on a commercial jet; it's 50 degrees below freezing outside and the pressure differential would kill you anyway, so even if the chute deployed you’d get to the ground partially frozen, asphyxiated from the lack of oxygen in the air for the first few minutes of your fall, with most of your clothes torn off from the wind and with all sorts of things inside you ruptured... still OK with flying


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## shootingstar (24 Nov 2008)

Your sick Purple


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## Purple (24 Nov 2008)

shootingstar said:


> Your sick Purple


I’ve been called worse (you should  see some of the PM’s I get)


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## deedee80 (24 Nov 2008)

I found the tube in London was almost as bad as being stuck in a lift!  Sooo claustrophobic!


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## shootingstar (24 Nov 2008)

I cant ever imagine myself even contemplating going into the London tubes. 

I haven`t left Ireland in 6 years I`m so bad at travelling. Planes, boats, anything that will confine me   if I cant control it, as such, then it`ll upset me and start a panic. 

Began years ago when I got stuck in a toilet


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## truthseeker (24 Nov 2008)

shootingstar said:


> I cant ever imagine myself even contemplating going into the London tubes.
> 
> I haven`t left Ireland in 6 years I`m so bad at travelling. Planes, boats, anything that will confine me   if I cant control it, as such, then it`ll upset me and start a panic.
> 
> Began years ago when I got stuck in a toilet


 
Have you tried any therapies - hypnosis etc...? (you probably have, Im interested if any of these things do work).

Can you do anything like get sleeping tablets off your GP to use while travelling?


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## Sylvester3 (24 Nov 2008)

Back when I was 16 I worked as an industrial cleaner in the early morning before school 3 times a week. I had an agreement with the supervisor that allowed me enough time to get changed and walk to school. The hours were 5:30 to 8:30. Anyway, one morning I spent one of those hours in a stuck lift, pressing the help button. Eventually the security guard came along and let me out. I still got paid for my time (£3 an hour!), so I didn't mind. The supervisor later told me that the guard was sure I was underage to be working there.


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## shootingstar (25 Nov 2008)

truthseeker said:


> Have you tried any therapies - hypnosis etc...? (you probably have, Im interested if any of these things do work).
> 
> Can you do anything like get sleeping tablets off your GP to use while travelling?



Have tried therapy of different kinds. Mr SS has promised if we come into money we`re going to fly paul mc kenna over to me. We checked his website and its states he no longer does one to one  

Tablets are a short-term fix. If i was to fly out somewhere i`d spend my time acticipating the journey home. This happened 6 years ago in spain. It was the worst week of my life. i honestly felt completely trapped on holidays. The apartment block was locked at night (for obvious reassons) and I knew i`d have to go in search of the night porter if I wanted to get out. Then i was imaging that he might have taken himself off for a snooze somewhere. horrific


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## michaelm (25 Nov 2008)

Never stuck in a lift but rarely use them.  If I was stuck I'd open the inner doors as it's likely that the doors to the level above or below would be accessible, open those and climb out.


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## Nutso (27 Nov 2008)

I got stuck in one a few weeks ago.  There was 8 of us and it said max 8 people so we all got in although it was a bit of a squeeze being a small apt lift but we were in a hurry as off to the airport and on the 9th floor so didn't want to spend the time taking two trips.  

So we got the overload message about 5 seconds after we pressed the button and had moved about 2 feet up.  

We spent the next 35 minutes calculating that we were definitely under the 640kg weight limit!  Luckily my mate had the no of the lift maintenence guy as it wasn't unusual for the lift to be broken... it was unusual for him to be in it while it was broken though! 

After that it was 9 floors of stairs we weren't taking any chances!


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