An elderly woman was stuck in the lift of flats in Hastings for half an hour after her foot became trapped in the doors.

Worried onlookers initially feared the lift would start moving with her leg still stuck fast inside.

She had been trying to stop the doors shutting but they closed on her and refused to open.

Neighbours tried to help but they had to call the fire brigade to free the woman from the lift in Beving Court, Stonehouse Drive, Hastings.

A team of ten firefighters from the Bohemia Road station came to her rescue and prised the doors open using airbags at 9.30pm yesterday.

A spokesman for the fire brigade said: "We were quite worried, as was the lady, because the lift had started making a whirring sound like it was about to start moving.

"We had to get the lift isolated so it wouldn't move.

"She seemed to be alright, a bit shocked, but she may have broken some of the bones in her foot."

The woman, believed to be in her early 70s, was taken by ambulance to the Conquest Hospital for a check-up.