A crowd of more than 20 people began to panic after they became trapped in a lift suspended over a busy London train station.
Rail passengers at St Pancras International began to bang on the windows and young children burst into tears after the lift broke down on Sunday evening.
Michael Wicks, who was one of the people trapped in the lift, told the Standard: “We were 90 per cent of the way to the top floor and there was a massive thud.
“Then we realised we weren't moving.
“25 minutes in people were – understandably - freaking out about being in a small confined space without huge amounts of oxygen.”
He said some tourists from Poland were panicking about missing their flight home and said: “I’ll be fired if I don’t go to work tomorrow.”
Young children who were in the lift also started crying and some people began banging on the lift doors and windows, added Mr Wicks, who is from St Albans but commutes to London for work.
He added it was hot and said that for a while the control room had stopped answering the alarm button.
He claimed the group pressed the alarm button several times before being left without knowing what was going on.
Eventually the group were rescued at 7.10pm by fire fighters, police and a lift engineer from the station, 45 minutes after the lift first broke down at 6.25pm.
A spokeswoman from London Fire Brigade told the Standard they were called at 6.43pm and released the group of people from the lift.
Network Rail have been contacted for comment.
