Six hurt as Tower Bridge lift plummets to ground

Five tourists and a staff member were injured when a lift at London's Tower Bridge dropped three metres to the ground with them in it.

Six people were injured when a lift in London's Tower Bridge fell 3 metres to the ground.

Five tourists and one member of staff were said to have suffered a mixture of broken ankles and legs in the incident at the popular attraction just after 1pm yesterday.

The other people in the lift - believed to number at least 10 - escaped unharmed and left the scene before the emergency services arrived.

The fall happened as the lift was rising towards the Tower Bridge Exhibition - a walkway 42 metres above the ground.

But as it got 3m up it "suddenly dropped", according to a spokeswoman for the City of London Police.

The high walkways, which offer panoramic views across the Thames and the capital, are rented out for corporate dinners, drinks receptions and private parties at rates of up to 1000 pounds (NZ$2500) an hour.

The bridge is crossed by 40,000 motorists and pedestrians every day but was closed to traffic following the incident in the north tower.

The Tower Bridge Exhibition was closed for the rest of the day.

A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: "Six adult patients - two women and four men - were assessed and treated by our crews. They had all sustained lower-leg injuries, but were fully conscious and were taken to the Royal London Hospital."

Some of those hurt were from Spain. Among the injured were a husband and wife who suffered leg injuries. One person was carried from the scene on a stretcher.

A spokeswoman for the City of London Police said the Health and Safety Executive had been informed. The City of London Corporation has launched an investigation.

The bridge took eight years to build and was completed in 1894.

The lifts were added in the 1980s to take tourists up to the bridge's walkways. The lift in question was fully refurbished in 2003.

Philip Everett, director of environmental services at the City of London Corporation, apologised for the incident.

He said the lift was regularly checked and serviced and that the Corporation was co-operating with investigations.

"We are desperately sorry for causing this inconvenience," he said.

"We clearly very much regret it and we wish them [the injured] well. The Health and Safety Executive are currently conducting an investigation which we are fully co-operating with.

"We have our own lift service engineers on the site. We are looking into all aspects of what might have gone wrong with the lift. We are taking all the right precautions including keeping the exhibition closed. It will remain shut until we have checked the serviceability of the other lift on the site."

Mr Everett said that, as far as he knew, there had been no previous problems with the lift, which carries around 1000 people a day.

- INDEPENDENT