ENGINEERS have not been able to work out the cause of a problem that has seen the i360 closed for three days.

The viewing tower will remain closed today - having stopped with a pod full of passengers on Saturday and been shut for the past two days.

But bosses at the attraction have still not been able to say what the cause of the problem is.

The latest stoppage is just the latest problems since its opening in August last year. This is at least the 8th breakdown in eight months.

It is less than a month since the i360 last broke down on February 24. Passengers including children were trapped inside for more than an hour and the tower was closed for five days while a new data ribbon was sought.

In December a glitch with the doors on a special Santa ride meant passengers were trapped inside.

And strong winds caused the i360 to close for two days during Storm Angus in September

In September after the pod came grinding to a halt three times in five days architect David Marks promised the problem had been fixed.

However it is now unclear whether the latest issue is related to the previous problems.

A spokeswoman apologised again to customers yesterday and said the i360 technicians were “continuing investigations and checks”.

She said: “We are contacting customers who have pre-booked tickets and offering them the opportunity to return within three months or claim a refund. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience this causes.”

In November Eleanor Harris, the chief executive of Brighton and Hove’s newest tourist attraction, stepped down from the role.

She said she was relinquishing her position to spend more time with her two young children and focus on her own business.

She blamed Southern for making her miss important time with family in London.

In January is was revealed that visitor numbers for the first three month of operation were slightly down on predictions.

From August 4 until the end of November, there were 223,127 flights compared to a forecast of 249,020.