The external glass lift has not been working since the tower opened

Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower opened nine months ago but the external glass lift is still not working.

In order to allow wheelchair users up the tower, both outside and inside lifts need to operate to allow escape in case one lift breaks down.

Campaign group Speak Out is now threatening to take legal action.

Clive Garnett, spokesman for Speak Out, told the BBC: "It is a public attraction and therefore we want access to the tower and, of course, we are paying for it and will be paying for it for many years to come.

We want the tower to be equally accessible for everyone Michael Lawther, Portsmouth City Council

Michael Lawther, the council's city solicitor, said: "We are keen to get the earliest possible resolution to the problems facing both the external lift and the understandable concerns of Speak Out.

"We hope to achieve this without any need on the group's part to pursue a claim under the Disability Discrimination Act.

"But even if they took this course of action, and were to be successful, their most probably remedy would be financial compensation.

"We want the tower to be equally accessible for everyone in our community."

Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower was due to open for the Millennium, but it was finished five years late and cost �36m.

In October 2005, when it finally opened to the public the project manager got stuck 100ft (30m) up the external lift, which has not been working since.