A DISABLED woman was stuck in a building for five hours after firefighters said there would be a £500 charge for her to be rescued.

Michaela Avenati – who has cerebral palsy – was left stranded at the top of six flights of stairs after the lift broke down at the second floor The Nerve Centre charity in Standard House on Half Moon Street.

Firefighters who attended the scene told how it would cost £500 to £600 for them to help Michaela down the stairs.

He said: “Michaela is still shocked by what happened. Because she has cerebral palsy she has emotional and mental needs and she got very stressed and upset.

“She’s very vulnerable and she can’t do anything for herself – she can’t even propel her wheelchair.”

Managers at the centre – a charity set up in 2005 to support people living with neurological conditions – decided not to pay the money and wait for someone to come and fix the lift.

But five hours later when the lift engineer didn’t turn up they were forced to agree to pay the money.

Firefighters returned to the scene and carried 30-year-old Michaela in her wheelchair down the stairs.

Father-of-four Malcolm – who is an evacuation specialist – said he doesn’t blame anyone for what happened.

He said the firefighters and the centre managers were both very helpful but he is concerned there was not an alternative way to evacuate disabled people from the building.

He said: “Fortunately this was not a fire situation. If it had been, the story could well have been that a disabled woman died in a fire.