Spice Girl Geri Halliwell was rescued by firefigthers yesterday after she got trapped in a lift for an hour.
The 35-year-old singer and writer was going to a book signing for her new children's book 'Ugenia Lavender' when the service elevator at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex broke down.
Waiting fans were told that there had been "an incident" which had delayed Halliwell.
Firefighters then arrived on the scene, releasing the star from the broken lift.
When Halliwell arrived at her book signing she explained to the waiting fans: "I got stuck in a lift."
Essex County Fire & Rescue Service said Halliwell and four other people became trapped when the elevator broke down on the way to the first floor.
Sub Officer Dan Hyatt said: "We were called to help get some people out of a lift in Lakeside and when we got there we were all surprised to discover that one of the people trapped was Geri Halliwell."
"The lift had become stuck between floors and and a team of engineers was working on it but didn't seem to be having any luck. So we used a manual crank in the lift's service room to raise it and get the doors open."
"Geri thanked us all for our help and was a really nice lady. There were loads of fans waiting for her so we were glad that we were able to get her out quickly so she could go and meet them."
