Lifts in a housing block have been named as among the worst in the capital by the London Fire Brigade.

The lifts at Trident Point, in Pinner Road, Harrow, were listed in the top ten by the fire brigade for call outs in the last year.

Crews were called to the block ten times between August 2013 and this this year.

The brigade says call outs to lifts, which totalled more than 5,000 across London, mean fire crews cannot attend real emergency incidents and provide training.

Nabeel Nizamdeen, who has lived in Trident Point since it opened, said: “There have been problems with them ever since the place opened. And it’s quite annoying they haven’t been sorted.

“I’ve been stuck in there before for two hours and I know someone else who was stuck in there for four hours.

“The fact our building is in the top ten for London does no surprise me at all."

One mother who lives in the block and asked not to be named, said: “There have been problems with the lifts for a long time.

“We live on the top floor and sometimes if I go in the lift I don’t know if I’m going to get out because they are so unreliable.”

London Fire Brigade Third Officer Dave Brown said: "If there is a genuine emergency we will be there but on many occasions if you are shut in a lift it's an inconvenience not an emergency situation.

“It's the responsibility of building owners to maintain their lifts and ensure they use a lift engineer call out service if the lift breaks down.

“Preventing people getting shut in lifts is in everyone’s interest and we're calling on all building operators to ensure their lifts are regularly maintained and that their staff are properly trained to release people who get shut in them."

A spokeswoman for Metropolitan Housing, which manages part of the building, said: “There are five lifts in operation at Trident Point so we can only comment on the two which we are responsible for managing.

“There have been ongoing problems with the reliability of those lifts, and we acknowledge the problems that the residents are living with and apologise for any inconvenience caused by this issue.

“We are currently working on a range of options to try to resolve the situation and are doing our very best to keep the residents informed and updated about what is going on.

“In the meantime, any lift fault reported to us will continue to be treated as a priority.”

The fire brigade says it can charge lift owners £290 plus VAT for a non-emergency if it is the third occasion.

However the service says it is currently owed nearly £250,000 in unpaid charges from all London call outs.