FIRE bosses have called for property owners to keep lifts in good condition after a string of breakdowns left people stranded.

Since New Year’s Day, firefighters have been called out to 13 reports of lift failures around East Sussex, Brighton and Hove.

From those incidents, 25 people had to be rescued.

Brighton crews have received four reports, the joint highest number of callouts.

In those, 14 people had to be saved.

That figure shot up over the weekend with eight people rescued from three lifts in the city.

On Saturday morning, firefighters were sent out to Varndean Drive, coming to the aid of two trapped passengers.

Later that night, at around 11pm, they were on hand to rescue four people stuck in a London Road elevator.

Mark Matthews, assistant director of safer communications for East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, was not sure why there have been so many similar incidents in a short period.

He said: “We do not investigate the causes of lift breakdowns but we recommend that lifts are kept in good working order and are regularly maintained.”

Eastbourne firefighters have also attended four incidents so far in 2018.

In one case, an elderly man was trapped inside a lift for almost half an hour at a property in Silverdale Road.

There have also been two callouts to buildings in Hove and Hastings along with one in Uckfield and another in St Leonards.

The fire service last month issued a message in an attempt to reduce the number of non-emergency lift callouts they received.

Of the 9,144 incidents officers responded to in 2016/17, 338 were lift releases.

Mr Matthews said: “It’s important that we are not distracted from real emergencies by callouts which could have been prevented.

“The good news is that businesses, landlords and property owners can take some simple steps to reduce these types of calls.

“We are asking them to follow our advice and take responsibility for their premises and by doing so ensure our crews remain available for life saving incidents.

“We will evaluate the effectiveness of our recent campaign to reduce the number of non-emergency lift calls after at least six months, when we have collected sufficient information to see what impact it is having.”

ESFRS’s tips for avoiding emergency callouts to broken lifts are to get them serviced regularly and having a clear policy on what to do if the lift breaks down - including contact details for engineers.

The fire service says people should make arrangements to provide a 24/7 non-emergency lift release service within a reasonable period of time.