#elevator button

Look how dirty the Hell button is :)

If you’ve ever jabbed furiously at the ‘doors close’ button on a lift, wondering why nothing is happening, we might have an answer for you.

In all probability, the button on the lift does nothing at all, according to an industry insider.

Karen W. Penafiel, executive director of National Elevator Industry Inc said that a majority of lifts in New York City don’t have a functioning ‘close’ button - due to regulations about allowing disabled passengers time to get in.

Many lift ‘open door’ buttons do work, but only for fire fighters and maintenance workers armed with a special key, Penafiel said.

It’s not clear what percentage of UK lift buttons are fakes - such data is usually closely guarded by their manufacturers - but ‘placebo’ buttons are widely used here.

Many pedestrian crossings in the UK have buttons which do nothing at all, a BBC news investigation found in 2003.