Harborough councillor sat trapped for almost two hours in a broken-down lift as she was being elected chair of a key committee

A leading Harborough councillor was elected chair of a key committee – as she sat trapped for almost two hours in a broken-down lift in the council building.

Cllr Amanda Nunn turned up at the district council’s Symington Building in Market Harborough to head up the virtual Communities Scrutiny Panel meeting.

But the bemused Conservative councillor could only sit helplessly in the marooned lift at the authority’s headquarters on Adam and Eve Street as she waited to be rescued.

Taking the ups with the downs in her stride, good-humoured Amanda told the Harborough Mail: “The night and the meeting didn’t exactly go as I’d planned!

“I am not particularly claustrophobic but it certainly wasn’t a very pleasant experience.

“But if my strange little drama gives the people of Harborough a good laugh in these difficult times then that’s fine, I don’t care.

“I have never been trapped in a lift before – and I won’t be ever again if I can help it.”

The popular member for Bosworth told how her freak ordeal unfolded as she went along to lead the meeting on the evening of Thursday September 24.

“I stepped into the lift at about 6pm to go up to the council chamber.

“It started but then quickly shuddered and stopped.

“It’s a new lift and I’ve used it regularly in the past and never had a problem so I was surprised to say the least,” said Northern Ireland-born Amanda.

“I was in there by myself as there’s only one person allowed in at a time due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I immediately pushed the alarm button to get help.

“I also rang George in the council’s democratic services unit to let him know what had happened because he takes the minutes of the panel.

“And then there wasn’t much I could do except to sit there and wait to be rescued.”

A Harborough councillor for five years, she praised staff who were still in the building for supporting her during her 105-minute nightmare.

“Norman Proudfoot, our joint chief executive, was there and he kept popping down to talk to me and see that I was all right.

“George did too along with the reception staff and who ever else was still there.

“They did ever so well keeping my spirits up and making sure I was OK as we waited for the on-call engineer to come out,” said Amanda, a former nurse.

“It was pretty boring because I had nothing to read stuck in there and the battery on my phone was running low.

“I had left my laptop in the chamber earlier that night so I didn’t have that to look at either.

“The meeting went ahead as scheduled at 6.30pm and Cllr Janette Ackerley from Lutterworth ended up chairing it.

“She’s my vice chair and I was promptly elected chair on the night in my absence as I sat there trapped on the floor of the lift!”

The relieved mum of two grown-up sons was finally freed from her tiny prison at 7.45pm.

“It could have been even worse because the duty engineer had to drive here all the way from Nottingham.

“Norman and George were waiting to greet me when I finally got out to make sure I was fine,” said Amanda, who lives in Market Harborough.

“The painters decorating the ground floor had a laugh at my expense when I emerged but I’ve taken it all in good heart.

“I went straight home because the meeting had already finished and had a glass of wine.

“All’s well that ends well but I won’t be venturing back into that lift.

“I’ll be walking up the stairs from now on, I’ve learned my lesson the hard way!”

A Harborough District Council spokesman said: “The alarm was raised at 18.04 on Thursday evening and the on-call duty officer attended, keeping the councillor updated on the engineer’s progress.

“When the councillor was released from the lift, she was offered a drink and she returned home.

“The engineers were called to urgently assess what caused the fault and to carry out any work required to rectify it.”

He added: “It is currently operational.

“The central lift in The Symington Building is serviced on a quarterly basis in line with the contract agreement, with the last service taking place in July 2020.”