MP: How was woman able to climb onto multi-storey car park two days in a row?

Blackpool town centre ground to a halt on Saturday as the woman, in her 20s, sat atop Wilko in Dickson Road for more than three hours.

The incident came a day after specialist police negotiators successfully talked her down and detained her under the Mental Health Act on Friday.

A spokeswoman for Lancashire Police said she was taken to hospital for an assessment by medics but later released.

Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden said: “It’s obviously very concerning that this lady, having been successfully brought down from the roof and presumably referred for mental health support, should appear on the roof again just 24 hours later.

“That does raise questions about what treatment or support she was given and, while respecting her confidentiality, we need to hear more on this from the authorities responsible.”

Lancashire Care NHS Trust, which is responsible for providing inpatient mental health services across the county, refused to say what help had been offered to the woman before the weekend’s events, or what involvement they had with her after she was talked down on Friday, citing ‘patient confidentiality’.

But a spokesman said: “The trust is experiencing an increased demand for inpatient mental health services and this reflects a national shortage of beds.

“Our number one priority has been to ensure our patients receive the highest quality care when they need it.”

Both Dickson Road and Talbot Road were closed as the woman sat on the edge of the multi-storey car park on Friday.

Buses were diverted and traffic was gridlocked as a crowd of onlookers gathered.

There were reports some were encouraging the woman, who is understood to have mental health issues, to jump, while some online trolls said the same.