Ah, they had one of these in the Viscount House building at British Airways in London when I was working there back in the late 90s. I don't know if it's still in use.

I recall someone trying to take a ladder that was slightly too long for the compartment up a floor in it; I didn't see it but everybody on our floor heard the noise of what it did to the ladder.

I'm told that it was traditional when showing the apprentices the lift to let them have a go and then hit the emergency stop button once they were in the pit at the bottom.

It was very unnerving the first few times I used it but one became blasé about it rather quickly. Probably too quickly and definitely too blasé.