A 50 year old grandmother and charity worker was killed yesterday after a faulty elevator trapped her inside a UK public housing block. Firefighters were called to the incident in London's east end but Christine Allen had died before they were able to release her. Christine Allen's daughter, Laura Dawkins said the faulty lift in the tower block had been reported to the local council by her several times before the incident which saw Christing pinned between the lift car and the wall on the 8th floor.

The incident follows two further recent deaths involving elevators occurring in the USA and Canada. On 28 July a 61 year old man died in Chicago when he mysteriously plummeted down a lift shaft at his home in Cabrini-Green. On 31 July a four year old girl died at her two-storey home in Calgary, Canada, being crushed by an elevator after she was trapped in the doorway.