HIGH-RISE tenants were “stranded in their flats” and other disabled residents faced a climb of up to 15 floors after lifts broke down for 24 hours in the latest in a series of issues.

One lift in the Chiltern tower block, part of the Queensway estate in the city centre, failed during the day on Tuesday before the second of the block’s two lifts broke down at 5.30pm.

Residents, many disabled and some with young children, struggled up multiple flights of stairs until the problem was fixed the following morning. It is the latest in regular reports of lift breakdowns across the four dilapidated tower blocks which are marked for demolition.

South Essex Homes, which manages the flats, claimed one of the lifts was damaged “intentionally” and confirmed the issue has now been resolved.

Ian Ward, 77, who suffers from arthritis, added other residents “were stuck” in their flats. He said: “They were out of order for 24 hours. There was nobody around from South Essex Homes to look after things. I ended up having to climb up ten floors. Other people were stuck. There was a woman who had a relative who has a heart problem who was on the phone to South Essex Homes. She had a pushchair with her and the relative was on the 14th floor.

“I had my shopping trolley with me. As I started going up a young man delivering offering to help me. He was going to his next delivery but he felt about leaving me.”

In recent years residents have reported a string of problems in the four blocks, including drug taking in stairwells, antisocial behaviour and poor security.

Mike Smith, who lives on the 13th floor of Malvern tower block, said: “We get spates of it. They all seem to go down at once. We had a problem Christmas before last. It went on for six weeks because they were waiting for some part to come from Germany. On Queensway we’ve got eight lifts all the same. Why don’t they keep spares for just one lift in case of an emergency?”

A spokesman for South Essex Homes said: “It is always disappointing when damage is caused intentionally, as with lift one, and we urge residents to report to us in the first instance if they know who was responsible for this act of vandalism. The lift two fault was intermittent however, it appears this has been adjusted and repaired. Intermittent faults relating to lift doors are sometimes difficult to fully diagnose as they can relate to unintentional misuse such as holding/obstructing doors in periods of high demand.”