Hotel condemns 'extremely dangerous' Youtuber after lift surfing stunt

The Marriott hotel in Glasgow called in police after footage emerged online of a man appearing to ride on top of one of their elevators.

Glasgow Marriott hotel hits out at ‘extremely dangerous’ video of man surfing on top of elevator © Google Maps 2024

A Glasgow hotel has hit out at an “extremely dangerous” YouTube video which appeared to show a “trespasser” ride on top of one of their elevators.

Bosses from the Marriott Hotel called the police after footage of the dangerous stunt appeared online on Sunday.

The video, posted by a user named Ryegi, appears to show a man riding atop of the lift as it travels up to the 12th floor of the building, before it stops just feet away from the top of the shaft.

The daredevil YouTuber revealed to STV that the antic “nearly went wrong” and that his head was close to “getting crushed” as he encouraged viewers not to recreate the stunt.

In a disclaimer posted to his channel, he noted dangers involved in “lift surfing” included “crushing, electrocution, entrapment, serious injury and death.”

It added: “There are many other significant dangers, those are just a few examples. Watching online videos will never show you the full extent of the dangers involved.”

Marriott are now understood to be reassessing their security arrangements in light of the incident.

He said: “The lift surf at Glasgow nearly went wrong as there wasn’t much room at the top. My head was close to getting crushed from the top of the shaft from crouching.

“Sometimes I also like to tie a rope and dangle from the hook at the top of the lift shafts, which is a lot more dangerous.

“As for the police, I am not bothered that the Marriott has passed this on to them. Lift surfing is not a crime and is therefore not a police matter; it is a civil matter under trespass.

“Endangering yourself is also not a law.

“I encourage people not to copy my actions due to the significant risks involved (which I outline in my warnings on each video).”

The hotel revealed it was “reviewing” their security arrangements following the footage, which has since been passed on to Police Scotland.

A spokesperson for Glasgow Marriott said: “We were shocked to see the extremely dangerous behaviour of the trespasser in this video, which we have now passed to Police Scotland.

“We take safety very seriously and will further review our already robust security arrangements with the lift contractor to avoid anyone else putting their lives at risk in this way.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We can confirm that this video was reported to police on Monday, August 22 and advice was given.”

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