A security guard had to be rescued by firemen after being trapped in a lift for more than seven hours.

Mr John Boswell was working at the Harlequin Centre, High Street, Watford, when he became trapped in the lift at about 8pm on Friday evening.

He was noticed missing at about 3.30am the following morning after another guard failed to find him during routine checks.

Firemen from Watford were called to the centre, which is still being built in High Street, Watford, to free the fed-up guard.

One of the firefighters said they had to search the site for tools to build a makeshift handle to manually work the lift near the top of the building.

[From the Watford Observer of May 25, 1990]