‘The home lift is easy to use, runs smoothly and I feel safe using it’

A 69-year-old man opted for a home lift because he was tired of getting stuck on his stairlift.

James Ashdown, from London, suffers from angina and has had two knee replacement operations. He had a stairlift installed three years ago as using the stairs was leaving him breathless.

But the mechanical device broke down three times in one week, and on one of the occasions, he had to be rescued by the Fire Brigade. Mr Ashdown was traveling downwards when his stairlift ground to a halt having moved just four steps from the top of the stairs.

He said: “It was the third time in a week the stairlift had broken – it was ridiculous. I was only on it for a second before it apparently went into overdrive and got stuck. I couldn’t get off of it!

“I yelled for help, but by the time the neighbours got around I had already called my sister who called the fire brigade. They were really quick and got me off it within a few minutes. One of the firefighters said “you’re not the first person this has happened to” so it obviously happens all the time.”

Mr Kimberley says he refused to use the stairlift again and has since had a Stiltz Home Lift installed by the Home Lift Experts which travels through the floor up to his main bedroom.

He said: “I decided I wasn’t going to use the stairlift again. I was frightened of using it in case I became trapped again – it was too nerve-wracking. I had the stairlift serviced every year and it still broke down. I didn’t know about home lifts when I bought the stairlift three years ago otherwise I would have got a Stiltz Home Lift back then.

“It’s easy to use, runs smoothly and I feel safe. It is electric-powered and plugs straight into the wall. I had a power cut the other day while I was in the lift but, because it has a battery back-up, it brought me back down safely until the power came back on again. The lift has improved my life and made me more mobile. I’ve no anxiety about using it. It’s one small step in, push a button and I’m off.”