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London Fire Brigade is to charge landlords of tower blocks a £350 call-out fee to rescue people stuck in lifts.

Fire crews have freed residents of high-rise flats from broken lifts 6,430 times in the past 12 months, answering an average of 17 calls a day.

Of those, only 57 were genuine emergencies, in which the person trapped was at medical risk.

It has cost the service — which is facing a £45 million budget cut — around £2 million in time and resources.

Owners, including councils, housing associations and private landlords, will now be charged £290 plus VAT for any more than two non-emergency call-outs to their property per year. The fire service hopes the charge will give landlords an incentive to keep elevators in working order and has issued a list of the capital’s 25 “shoddiest” lifts.

The worst offender is Wendover, a council block in Walworth’s sprawling Aylesbury Estate, which fire teams attended 27 times in the past 12 months — more than once a fortnight.

Southwark Council, which runs the block, blamed the breakdowns on “historic under-investment”, which it is now trying to address with £9 million of improvements. But a spokeswoman said most of the 788 lifts in the borough were made-to-measure, making parts difficult to track down.

Ian Wingfield, cabinet member for housing, said: “Our lift call-outs have reduced significantly but I completely sympathise with residents who have had to suffer this inconvenience.

“We believe that prevention is better than cure and recognise the historic under-investment.”

Rescue teams were called to a block on Albany Street, Regent’s Park — where three-bedroom flats sell for upwards of £500,000 — 13 times in the past 12 months.

James Cleverly, chairman of London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, said: “The brigade attends 17 rescues a day which prevent crews being available to attend genuine emergencies. Firefighters will always attend a call-out where it is a real emergency but less than 1% of lift rescues are medical cases and it is only right that we recover taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”

Most call-outs

Wendover, Thurlow Street SE17 27

Hornbeam House, Maitland Park Villas NW3 20

Earlsdown House, Wheelers Cross IG11 19

Maydew House, Abbeyfield Estate SE16 16

Bradenham, Boyson Road SE17 15

Hillrise Mansions, Warltersville Road N19 15

Eddystone Tower, Oxestalls Road SE8 15

Delafield House, Christian Street E1 14

Rothay, Albany Street NW1 13

Hastings House, Sherborne Avenue EN3 13