A mum says she was stuck in a department store lift for over an hour with her three young children and their grandmother after it broke down and she says she got a 'total lack of response' from the shop.

Sabreen Hussain, along with her two-year-old twins, six-year-old daughter and the children’s grandmother, were stuck in a Debenhams lift in St Nicholas Centre after it broke down on Friday (August 25).

Sabreen said: “It was horrible, so so hot.

"There was a total lack of response from Debenhams. They had a real relaxed attitude towards it. We buzzed on the alarm and we kept doing that for 15 minutes.”

After she said she received no reply, the mum had to call the number provided in the lift before getting through to the manager.

She claimed the manager advised them to wait as they couldn’t confirm a time slot for an external engineer to come out.

After an hour Sabreen said her mother began feeling unwell and the children were growing more impatient.

Sabreen continued: “The kids were really playing up at that stage. After more time the manager suggested we could try and call the fire brigade. I can’t believe they asked me that. She said the fire services don’t listen to us.

“What if I didn’t have my phone on me? What if there was an emergency and I wouldn’t have been able to call? I was thankful because there was one bar of service that I had to rely on.”

The fire brigade arrived after Sabreen called but they were unable to hoist them out and instead they had to wait for the engineer.

According to Sabreen, the engineer managed to pull them out just after 2pm.

She added: “It’s strange that nobody heard the buzzer. I’m wondering whether it’s faulty. It was an awful awful service.”

A Debenhams spokesperson said: “We are sorry that the customer, and her family, were in the lift when it broke down.

“Staff called the engineer as soon as they were aware that the lift was broken. The engineer arrived within 50 minutes. The lift is now cordoned off and a review is underway.”