Pensioner's 45-hour lock-in ordeal

Mr McKenzie (74), had only chocolate coins and finger biscuits, bought for his two great-nieces, to sustain him after staff left Ribblesdale House Medical Centre with him still inside.

The retired builder visited the centre on Market Street in Bury town centre at about 11am on Saturday to collect a prescription from a first-floor surgery.

But he accidentally pressed the second floor button in the lift and walked out into pitch blackness, while the lift closed behind him and left. The second floor houses offices which are unoccupied - and locked - at weekend.

He began banging furiously on the lift doors but staff below did not check the second floor before locking up and leaving for the weekend. Frantic family members called the police and a full-scale search was launched involving dogs and the police helicopter as the hours passed and fears grew for Mr McKenzie's safety.

The locks on the former builder's flat at Huntley House in Chesham Fold Road, Bury, were changed for fear that he had been mugged and his keys stolen.

Badly shaken, he was eventually discovered when the medical centre opened up early on Monday morning. Staff gave him a check-up before sending him home.

The plucky pensioner was playing the matter down this week. "I feel fine, I am not really bothered by it," he said. "It was only two days and I was telling myself not to panic."

The World War Two veteran, who fought in Normandy in 1944, had previously suffered a heart attack and a stroke. He had called in for a prescription for heart tablets, and did without during his ordeal.

Ribblesdale practice manager Joan Richardson said there had not been an incident like this in the centre's 32-year history.

"The doctors and staff are very sorry this happened," she said. "We are investigating the matter fully and will present a full report to the family."

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