Ordeal in which faulty lift kept falling and rising several floors likened to horror film scene

A group of shoppers endured an ordeal likened to a horror film when they were trapped in a lift that climbed and plunged repeatedly for up to 40 minutes.

More than a dozen people were “thrown up and down” as the lift jolted seven floors from the top of St David’s shopping centre in Cardiff on Saturday evening.

One young girl was reduced to tears and had a panic attack during the incident.

Taris Chapman, 19, from Rhondda. who was trapped in the lift with her three friends, described the experience on Facebook.

“Just to warn others of how dangerous lifts can be. Myself, three of my friends and nine other people were in the lift in St David’s shopping centre this evening when it stopped working,” she wrote.

“This resulted in 40 minutes of the lift going to the top floor and just plunging us down seven floors with force whilst jolting. Not to mention how frightening it was as we couldn’t get hold of the helpline 10 minutes into the lift breaking.

“When we did manage to get hold of them, the speaker kept cutting off and due to no signal we couldn’t even get through to the emergency services. Twenty minutes later, the fire brigade came and helped us get out.

“This was the most terrifying thing we have experienced and want to warn others as it was very distressing and has happened there before.”

Chapman said the lift was not over its maximum weight capacity and people had said it was “playing up” throughout the day.

Speaking to WalesOnline, Chapman and her friends compared the incident to a scene from a horror film. “It felt like there was no control over the lift. Everyone was screaming and panicking. It felt like the cord that holds the lift wasn’t working properly,” they said.

A spokeswoman for the shopping centre said there had been no reports of the lift malfunctioning before the incident. Those trapped in the lift were given free parking passes, she added. “We are now speaking to those involved individually and will be making a gesture of goodwill.”

Megan Jones, 19, who was in the lift with her mother, Alyson, 53, wrote on Facebook: “Me and my mam were stuck in this lift, it was an absolute horrific and life-changing experience, and to only be offered ‘free parking’ is disgusting.

“Not being able to contact anyone whilst we were being thrown up and down with no way of stopping the lift. It was honestly the worst experience of my life and if there was any more than the 13 of us in there, there would have been bigger issues.”

Jones later added on Twitter: “Cannot believe that after being stuck in a lift flying up and crashing down to the floor for 25 minutes & having the fire brigade get us out, all @StDavidsCardiff can offer us is free parking, absolutely disgusting!!!”

Steven Madeley, the general manager for St David’s, said: “We can confirm there was a fault with a lift in the centre Saturday evening, and the fire service attended in line with our usual protocol.

“We’d like to apologise to those affected and thank them for their patience. We will be liaising with those customers directly. We would like to reassure that the incident was a fault, and there was no risk or danger to those involved.”

South Wales fire and rescue service confirmed a crew was called to the shopping centre just before 7pm on Saturday. “We obtained the lift keys and the people inside were released safely,” a spokeswoman said.