A Hereford resident has expressed exasperation at how often the lift at the city’s Maylord Orchard shopping centre is out of use.

Derek Mumford explained that he regularly parks in the basement of the Herefordshire Council-owned centre when taking his wife’s 91-year-old aunt into town in her wheelchair.

“Maylord Orchard is handy for some of the shops she likes to go to. But the lift has been out of action for three weeks,” he said.

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“It took five weeks at Christmas for them to get it fixed. How are disabled people supposed to use the car park to get into the centre?”

Mr Mumford added: “If the present contactor can’t respond quicker than this, they should get one who can or get their money back. Nowhere else would wait so long.”

Herefordshire Council was asked to comment on Mr Mumford’s claim, and to clarify how long this year the lift has been out of order.

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The council bought the shopping centre for over £4 million in 2020, and under the previous administration had intended part of it to become a new library and learning centre for the city.

But under the incoming Conservative-led administration, this idea was dropped last year in favour of using the city’s Shirehall instead. The council has put the cost of cancelling the Maylord project at £446,000.

Then last September, anchor tenant Wilko closed its ground-floor store in the Maylord centre as the chain went into administration. Ten months on, the shuttered premises still displays Wilko signage while a new tenant is sought.