Science tower may be shut for weeks

Published on Monday 31 January 2005 00:31

OFFICIALS at Glasgow’s Science Centre, where ten people were trapped in a lift for five hours at the weekend, have suggested that its centrepiece tower could be closed for weeks pending an investigation.

Six adults and four children were trapped almost halfway up the 416ft rotating tower after a malfunction on Saturday. They were eventually rescued by firefighters, who cut through aluminium panels in the structure and led them to safety over an emergency bridge to an internal stairwell. No-one was injured.

Two earlier rescue attempts were unsuccessful: a hydraulic platform was not tall enough to reach them and an engineer who abseiled down the tower could not get the lift moving.

A spokeswoman for the Glasgow Science Centre was unable to say yesterday what had caused the accident, and she confirmed investigations had already begun.

She suggested, however, that the 10 million attraction, which was officially opened by the Queen in 2001, could be disrupted for weeks.

"Our current priority is understanding what caused the fault that resulted in the incident," she said. "This should be completed within a matter of days, and we estimate the tower will be open within weeks. But until the investigation is complete, it’s all speculation."

She stressed that people had still been visiting the complex’s science mall and IMAX "in great numbers" yesterday.

The lift drama is the latest of many embarrassing episodes at the centre. A giant bearing that allows the tower to rotate failed shortly after it opened, and there have been several technical problems since then.