No, this is not a spoof thread title sadly. Yesterday morning, in a billion to 1 shot, I managed to drop my keys down the gap between the lift shaft and building whilst getting in to the lift.
Thus, with a merry clank, did my keys tumble to the bottom of the lift shaft.
Basically, the doors on the lift - from the outside - cannot be manually forced open a la 1000 Hollywood movies, so I'm going to have to get in touch with the Hauswart and see what he says.
Does anyone know if Hauswarts themselves have access to the lift shafts in communal buildings, or do they have to call in outside experts? I know they would have to if the lift itself was actually broken/malfunctioning, but that isn't the case here.
I imagine if the outside guys have to be called, I would get charged several hundred francs for my stupidity, so I'll probably just get another set made up instead of trying to rescue the old ones.
Work won't be over the moon, as my work key was on the same keyring as my house key, currently resident at the bottom of my lift shaft but there we go.
I am pretty sure the Lift Maintenance people will have to be called out.
All lifts have a Service / Emergency number inside - have you called this number and explained your predicament ?
Might be cheaper (but not cheap) to get new keys cut...Insurance might pay because they are not lost per se...You might not have to replace the Building front door locks either, depends on how sympathetic they are.
I would be surprised if your Hauswart can't get in, I dropped my car keys in the goods lift shaft at my warehouse, the FM guy had a key and I got them back in a few minutes.
If the gap is big enough for keys to fall through, it must be a regular occurrence.
If a key is lost (in CH) usually they'll replace all compromised locks... including work... so you might find that the call out charge for retrieving a key which you know the location of is a cheaper, quicker and in the long run less painful option...
There is usually at least four feet below a lift even when it has arrived at the lowest floor. They place springs/absorbers at the bottom of shafts ...
Happened to me a few years ago, rushing to get my mother to the airport and fortunately was on my way out with the luggage rather than in to fetch it at the time!
I swear the keys wriggled after I'd dropped them... across to and down the gap by the lift doors.
The concierge said she had no way of accessing the shaft and that I'd have to wait until the service engineer came to do the annual service a few months later.
But if I wasn't prepared to wait she would have called them out.... at my expense.
My daughter did this a couple of years ago. I botched together a broom handle and a wall hook with some duct tape and managed to fish them out through the gap between the lift and the corridor.
I would not feel confortable knowing that I just had new keys cut but that at any time somebody could get the keys at the bottom of the lift and have access to my home and work.
Better to pay for somebody to retrieve the keys for you.
I am sure any HASAW assesments would insist that the lift be powered down and safety mechanisms put in place before non qualified people enter and area involving moving machinery. Anyone having trained in HASAW only has to look at the area involved to determine the risk. Also, insurance would not cover anyone other than qualified personnel from entering such an area, so no Swissy is going to go near there. Your Hauswart was probably ignorant to law and risk.
