Youths pelting workmen with missiles and a pirate radio station are among the reasons Wandsworth Council took so long to mend two lifts in a Battersea tower block.

The claims come after an investigation into continual delays in the council's lift refurbishment programme at the 22-storey, 107-flat Sporle Court found the repair service "not as good as anticipated".

It also found no contingency plans offering elderly and infirm tenants temporary accommodation or extra help.

Wandsworth Council has now offered £7,200 in compensation to the hundreds of long-suffering residents in the block on Winstanley estate.

The investigation was launched after outraged residents' horror stories of pensioners, pregnant women, a blind resident and mothers with young children being forced to walk up to 20 storeys because the lifts were out of order so often.

Despite the lifts being refurbished as part of a £1.1million maintenance programme, the first lift meant to be finished last November is still breaking down. A burnt out motor meant it was out of action from 1am last Sunday until Monday evening. The second lift was due to be ready by March but is already two months overdue.

But the council said it would not seek damages from the contractors over late completion because workmen had been forced to take safety precautions from missiles thrown from the upper levels, while suspected pirate radio station operators continually broke into the lift's top floor engine room to erect an aerial.

A council spokesman claimed the reliability of the first lift was almost 100 per cent and blamed the breakdowns on vandalism and "misuse" by residents.

He added: "We recognise the residents have suffered a poor lift service. We would like to apologise to them and thank them for their patience."

But residents claimed the council's compensation package would prove divisive, with residents on the lowest four floors getting no cash at all, from fifth to 10th floor, one week's (£60) rent and tenants from the 11th floor upwards offered two weeks net rate.

Maria Martins, 64, who lives on the 17th floor said: "Everybody should have got the same, whatever floor. Old people on the lower floors are suffering more than young people on the higher floors."

Wandsworth Council Labour leader Tony Belton, who has lobbied the council on behalf of the residents, said the contractors were "an outrageous failure".

January 27, 2003 11:00