A pensioner has been unable to leave her home for more than a month and missed two hospital appointments due to a broken-down lift that was vandalised in her council flat.

Kim Jeffrey, 68, has lived in Millbank House, Northam, for 16 years and suffers with arthritis in her spine and knees meaning she’s unable to walk up or down the stairs.

On January 3 one of the tower block’s two lifts broke down in the 16-storey building and has been out of order in the five weeks since due to vandalism, despite Southampton City Council telling residents the lift would be fixed within two weeks.

Unable to use the lift on the 13th floor next to her flat and unable to walk down the stairs to the 12th floor to use the lift on the opposite side of the building, Kim has been left home bound for most of this year.

Speaking to the Echo, she said: “I think it would literally kill me if I had to walk downstairs to get to the lift. I can’t use the stairs at all.

“It’s never been like this before; we’ve had instances where the lift has been out of order for a day or two but not five weeks. The council should be able to get the parts they need.

“There must be even more people using the one lift that is working and if that stops it will cost the council even more money.”

Millbank House in Northam (Image: Newsquest) READ MORE: Dangers of being homeless in Southampton revealed by woman

Unable to leave her home, Kim has missed two hospital appointments – one of which was for a liver scan while the other was to monitor the density of her bones, following a fall last year.

She said: “I suffer with arthritis which is why I can’t go up the stairs. So, the checkup is important because the doctor wants to make sure I don’t have anything else wrong.

“At the moment I don’t have a choice as to whether I can go outside.

“It affects my day-to-day life; I feel like a prisoner in my own home. I haven’t been out in the time the lift has been out of order. If there was an emergency and I couldn’t use the lift, I don’t know what I’d do.”

Kim added: “Even in the stairwell we get alcoholics and people on drugs because they seem to get in from outside and they sleep and go to the toilet on the stairs, it’s disgusting.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Southampton City Council said: "The lift at Millbank House was damaged as a result of vandalism.

"We are working closely with the police and will take proportional enforcement action against the perpetrators.

"We apologise to residents who have been disrupted due to this act of vandalism.

"We are in discussions with our contractor who will be on site at Millbank House to repair the lift and we expect these repairs to be complete by the end of next week.

"Following that, lifts at Millbank House will continue to be serviced monthly and we encourage residents to report any issues to us.”