Paralegal, 27, who screamed for help thinking he was going to die while trapped in stuck lift for seven hours overnight gets £25 gift card in apology

• Azizul Rayhan became trapped at the Victory Business Centre in Portsmouth
• The lift and emergency button both developed faults and an alarm went unheard
• He believed he would run out of oxygen or the lift would plummet to the ground
• He now has a fear of small or confined spaces and struggles to ride the Tube 

A paralegal who spent seven hours trapped inside a lift overnight and feared he was going to die has been given a £25 gift card as compensation.

Azizul Rayhan, 27, got stuck in the faulty lift at the Victory Business Centre in Portsmouth around 10.45pm on July 17. 

He said he has been left traumatised and gets nervous in confined spaces after ‘screaming all night’ for help over fears he would run out of oxygen and die.

Now, Mr Rayhan has revealed the manager of Victory Business Centre gave him a £25 gift voucher as compensation for his night of terror.

Mr Rayhan, from Portsmouth, said: ‘[The manager] came to visit me after the incident and he told me this is from him, personally.

‘At that moment, I was not in a state to receive or reject it, so I left it on my brother’s desk. He later told me the contents of the envelope which is a £25 gift card.’

Azizul Rayhan, 27, feared death after being trapped in the lift for seven hours overnight on July 17

Both the lift and emergency call button developed a fault meaning the paralegal could not call through to reception, and an on-site security guard failed to show up to hear the alarm triggered by the fault

The paralegal had been visiting the centre to collect belongings from his brother’s office in Victory Business Centre when he got trapped inside this small space

Mr Rayhan added: ‘I’m still not 100 per cent okay after the incident.

‘Whenever I’m in a confined place, I feel very nervous and it triggers the incident, especially when I have to use the tube.’

The paralegal had been visiting the centre to collect belongings from his brother’s office in Victory Business Centre when he got trapped.

After he had pressed the ground floor button, the lift moved slightly but then shuddered to a halt and started shaking. He then pressed the emergency button to call for help, but no answer came.

‘If it worked, I would have been out of there in 30 minutes or so,’ he said.

‘I was screaming the whole night for help, but no-one was around.

‘It was a very horrible experience. I thought the wires had severed or cut down, and I was going to fall down.

‘I thought something bad would happen to me, like I might even die, because I did not know if there was enough oxygen in there.’

He described it as ‘the most horrible night of his life’ and that has had flashbacks since the night of the incident.

At one point Mr Rayhan tried to escape by using his keys and managed to prise open the first lift door, but could not open the second as it was too heavy.

He was finally rescued at 5.45am the next day by business centre employee Mark Parratt.

The paralegal said he thinks he has developed claustrophobia and a fear of confined spaces – being so panicked at one point he could not breathe. He added that he has been referred to talking therapy by his GP.

He said when the manager delivered an envelope to him in person: ‘I was not in a state to receive or reject it, so I left it on my brother’s desk. He later told me the contents of the envelope which is a £25 gift card’

‘I was still shaking when I was rescued,’ he said.

‘I couldn’t talk for 30 minutes afterwards. It was the most horrible night of my life and my mental suffering is indescribable.’

Portsmouth City Council has apologised to Mr Rayhan, saying a specialist lift contractor checks the mechanism and phone alert system every two months, but both developed independent faults since June. Both faults have now been fixed.

The spokesman said: ‘We fully understand what an awful experience this must have been for this gentleman and have every sympathy with him.

‘The lift malfunctioned and no phone alert was triggered when the gentleman pressed the alarm button.

‘An alarm did ring on-site. The business centre is open 24 hours, but no-one was around to hear this.

‘We hire a security company to make routine visits every night between midnight and 3am. The on-site alarm would normally have been heard by their security guard.

‘The guard failed to make the scheduled visit.

‘We’re urgently undertaking a full review of our contract with the company.’

MailOnline has contacted Victory Business Centre for comment. 

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