right so i'm going to try and keep this short and not ramble [and to the local guys who know where i'm talking about, for GODs sake take the stairs] so yesterday me, my mate James and his girlfriend went to woodfield to do a spot of shopping. parking like we usually do at the top of the parking garage in front of gameworks and head out to wander about. having tired of the shops at the streets, we decided to return to our cars and drive over to the main mall. now, this is where things go sideways and shit gets interesting. we arrive back at the car park and proceed to enter elevator shaft east #1 to travel the three stories back to our cars. just as we reach the about where the third floor stop should have been, a awful metal wrenching sound was heard along with one side of the elevator car itself buckling inwards towards us, the car lurches to a stop, and proceeded to bend the elevator car in further. it is at this point, i asked the permission to say "cock". door open button? nothing, emergency stop button? pressed, alarm button? surprisingly ineffective. as soon as my finger leaves the alarm button the elevator shutters and falls an indeterminate distance, however the floor count changes from 3 to 2 in the process. my mate lights a square i dial 911 and tell him to try and get the doors open. no luck on the doors, we're in what i learned later, the elevator industry call the "death trap" elevator. basically one that locks both the inner and outer doors of the shaft when the car is in motion preventing us from escaping. roof hatch? nope blocked or latched shut. time passes slowly, we ask the 911 operator the ETA on the fire department. the car falls again as we are in contact with the fire department over the call box in the elevator, who at the time were actually outside by this point. the elevator made so much noise they thought that we had fallen all the way down the shaft. the fire department then lowers the elevator back to the first floor by lowering the pressure in the hydraulic system, which cause the remainder of the elevator shaft above us to come crashing down onto the car itself. we got out alright, but it could have been so much worse. so, here's a tip... take the stairs cliffs: went to mall with friends, took a elevator, shit broke on the way up and nearly killed us as if fell back down, i owe the fire department cookies
Oh shit... Good to see you made it out alive. I have always thought about that considering I take the elevators quite frequently at the retirement home job. They ocassionally buck and don't stop exacly at the floor, sometimes up to 3" off when the doors open.
yeah, it was one of those things, were you're just not sure how it's going to end, we had an entire 5 stories worth of elevator shaft bits collapse onto the car, i mean the 3 story fall would have been worse if it had let go all at once, but a steel girder to the head wouldn't be to pleasant either. under maintained car park elevator shafts, now scare the crap out of me, not literally, but i know i'm taking the stairs
Wow thats crazy. Glad your ok too! I have to take the parking garage elevator from the 5th floor when I go to our office. I always feel kinda stupid stepping onto elevators. I mean if you could see how scarey the shaft is under the elevator you might not get on it. Unfortunately I live in a country where elevators are quite popular.:help: