Peter Struggles of Billinghay told the Standard how he was left feeling angry by the dismissive response given by staff at Sleaford Homebase after he, his wife Cora and grandson Paul Field, 18, of Sleaford, were trapped in a lift for 20 minutes on Saturday, April 19. Paul suffers from Cerebral Palsy.

They decided to use the lift to get to the upper floor of the store because of Paul’s condition but it became stuck when they selected the first floor.

Mr Struggles said: “We rang the alarm bell but even that was not working. I started to kick the door and nobody turned up.

“I was on the verge of calling the fire brigade on my mobile phone when a customer heard us and tried to press the door release button but nothing happened.”

He said by the time a member of staff came, his grandson was showing signs of distress.

Mr Struggles added: “Because of his condition, my grandson speaks through a talking machine. He kept asking why the door would not open and my wife and I were getting concerned for him.”

He said they were released from the lift after about 20 minutes when a staff member dismantled the lock.

But he was unhappy about the store’s attitude to the incident and said: “The response from the store was quite dismissive. All we got was a casual ‘sorry about that’ and not the full apology we expected at the very least.”

Homebase have now offered a gesture of goodwill to the family for the inconvenience and distress they experienced.

l A Homebase spokesman confirmed that the lift had failed and so did the audible alarm, which therefore did not alert staff that people were trapped in the lift.

The spokesman said: “Homebase would like to apologise unreservedly to the couple and their grandson who were trapped in the lift for any distress caused. As soon as store staff were alerted to the customers’ situation, they acted quickly to release them from the lift.

“We are also extremely sorry that the customers were unhappy with the level of customer care they received after the incident.

“The safety of our customers is of paramount importance to us at all times and we take incidents of this nature very seriously.

“We have since carried out a full investigation into the incident and a new part has now been installed in the lift to prevent any further incidents of this nature.”