When nature calls there can only be one answer.

But for Paula Fagg that presented a conundrum after finding herself trapped in a lift in a block of flats.

The carer had got stuck at her seafront apartment in Marine Parade, Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey while visiting a friend.

And to add to the 65-year-old's woes she happened to be bursting for the loo – prompting a call to be rescued.

The drama unfolded one Sunday afternoon last month. Jan 22

Paula said: "I had just returned home and was in the lift on the ground floor when the doors jammed and wouldn't let me out.

"I could hear a whirring noise but nothing was happening."

She managed to yell to a neighbour about her predicament and he tried pressing buttons on other floors to free her.

When that failed to work, Paula used her mobile phone to call the emergency number on the lift wall.

She said: "I was told an engineer was only 30 minutes away. But after 20 minutes, and absolutely busting for a wee, I began to get worried."

As she feared her phone signal might not hold out, she phoned a friend and asked her to check on the engineer's progress.

Paula said: "The engineer turned out to still be in Essex on wrong side of the QEll Bridge at Dartford. I realised if he was caught in traffic it could be another two hours before he arrived.

"That was too long for me and my bladder to wait, so I called 999. I explained it wasn’t an emergency, apart from my bladder, and asked if someone could help?"

Within minutes, a crew from Sheerness fire station arrived in a fire engine and used a skeleton key to open the doors.

Paula, who works at Blackburn Lodge care home, recalled: "I shot out like a cork from a bottle and flew straight into my neighbour's loo.

"When I came out, the firemen had gone! It was so disappointing. I never even got to say thank you."

The next day she dropped a tub of chocolates into the fire station in Sheerness High Street with a card to say thanks but her saviours weren't on duty.

Paula, who is also a member of Minster-on-Sea Rotary Club, added: "It was just as well I called 999 when I did.

"The lift engineer turned up two hours after I got out, just as I had feared. He was a nice guy, though."

The fault turned out to be an electrical circuit controlling the doors which needed resetting.

Paula, who had to stand throughout the ordeal because her artificial knees didn't let her sit down, explained: "I think the doors jammed because I had used my foot to keep them open a bit longer as I got in.

"I've been told to only use the door-open button in future."