A SICK North-East pensioner was stuck in a lift for half an hour on the way to hos- pital with a suspected heart attack.

During the 30-minute ordeal paramedics looked after the elderly woman while firefighters tried to release the jammed lift.

The early morning rescue began when they were called to the Cresthaven old people's unit in Felling, Gateshead, where a resident had been taken ill in her first floor flat.

But as paramedics brought the 85-year-old down in the lift in a medical trolley at 1.30am on Tuesday, the elevator jammed, leaving them stuck between the first and ground floors.

Ambulance officers used mobile phones to alert fire crews as the oxygen they had for the patient began to run out.

The patient was later taken to hospital where she was said to be doing well.