A MAN who got stuck in a lift for seven hours and thought he was going to die has claimed he was given a gift card as an apology.
Azizul Rayhan, 27, had to spend an entire night inside an elevator at the council-run Victory Business Centre in Portsmouth, Devon, after it suffered a technical failure.
The “horrible experience” unravelled when he went to collect belongings from his brother’s office on July 17.
When he got in the lift and pressed the ground floor button around 10.45pm, it moved a little but then shuddered to a halt and shook.
He was finally rescued at 5.45am the next day by business centre employee Mark Parratt.
But despite his distressing ordeal, Azizul has now revealed that the manager of Victory Business Centre gave him a £25 gift voucher as compensation.
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He told MailOnline: “[The manager] came to visit me after the incident and he told me this is from him, personally.
“At that moment, I was not in a state to receive or reject it, so I left it on my brother’s desk. He later told me the contents of the envelope which is a £25 gift card.”
The paralegal said he has been left traumatised and gets nervous in confined spaces after “screaming all night” for help over fears he would run out of oxygen and die.
He added: “I’m still not 100 per cent okay after the incident.
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“Whenever I’m in a confined place, I feel very nervous and it triggers the incident, especially when I have to use the tube.”
At one point Azizul tried to escape by using his keys and managed to prise open the first lift door, but could not open the second as it was too heavy.
He says he then pushed the emergency button in the hope someone would come to his aid, but no one arrived.
He told the publication: “If it worked, I would have been out of there in 30 minutes or so. I was screaming the whole night for help, but no-one was around.
“It was a very horrible experience. I thought the wires had severed or cut down, and I was going to fall down.
“I thought something bad would happen to me, like I might even die, because I did not know if there was enough oxygen in there.”
Both the lift and emergency call button developed a fault meaning the paralegal could not call through to reception, and an on-site security guard failed to show up to hear the alarm triggered by the fault
Commenting on his night of terror, a spokesman for Portsmouth City Council, who are responsible for the building, said: “We fully understand what an awful experience this must have been for this gentleman and have every sympathy with him.
“We hire a security company to make routine visits every night between midnight and 3am.
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“The on-site alarm would normally have been heard by their security guard. The guard failed to make the scheduled visit.”
The council additionally confirmed that they were undertaking a “full review” of their contract with the security company.
