'Plunging lift' freaks out HDB residents

His two young children developed a fear of the lift and refused to use it.

So whenever the family left their HDB flat, Mr Kishore Kumar's daughter, six, would send the malfunctioning lift down without them and wait for the other lift instead.

"She is worried about being trapped in the lift or having the lift fall," said Mr Kumar, 35, an IT specialist who lives in Block 651, Punggol Central.

"I took this lift about five times before I gave up entirely. It's not worth the risk."

Mr Kumar, who said the problem started about four months ago, is not alone. His neighbours on the 18th storey, which is the highest floor of the block, also said they feared using Lift B.

They never knew when the erratic, malfunctioning lift would simply plunge them downwards without warning.

According to them, the lift had a tendency to jerk and plunge downwards after rising past the 17th storey. After that, it would open its doors at whichever storey it ended up at.

Residents, including Mr Kumar, said they had made many complaints to the town council.

A video of the malfunctioning lift surfaced on citizen journalism website Stomp on Monday.

LIFT PHOBIA

One 18th-storey resident who declined to be named said her young son had experienced the "plunging lift" at least twice and now has a fear of lifts.

She told The New Paper: "This problem only affects a small group of us. Everyone from the 17th storey and below is blissfully unaware there is even a problem."

There are only six units on each storey of the block.

When contacted, a spokesman for Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council said it had received occasional feedback from concerned residents regarding the malfunctioning lift.

She said: "We wish to assure readers that all feedback is taken seriously and that the lift companies will respond expeditiously to all feedback with further investigation, adjustment, repair and replacement of parts where necessary.

"For this particular case, the lift company made note of the intermittent faults and had made some adjustments to the lift levelling as well as replaced some lift parts. Together with the lift company, we will monitor the operational status of the lift."

When TNP visited the scene yesterday, the lift was undergoing repairs and was functional by 6.40pm.

cyap@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on July 16, 2014.
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