Pensioners in rundown blocks left without hot water for two days because of faulty installation

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Pensioners were left without hot water over new year after a council-installed boiler room doors that would not open.

Taps started running cold at Macintosh Court in Streatham, Lambeth, on the morning of Friday, December 31.

Residents were left shivering in their flats for two days until a repairman was sent in by the council on Sunday, January 2.

He said the problem might be fixed by flicking a switch on residents’ boilers.

But he was blocked from reaching the boilers because he said doors installed by Lambeth council did not open properly.

Residents of the estate, which houses elderly and disabled people, were left to struggle with no hot water until the evening.

Macintosh Court resident Janet Gayle, 66, said: “The boiler room doors installed a couple of months ago open out on to steps.

“You can’t get in. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

“I queried why they were changing the doors at the time.

“There are tonnes of jobs that are needed on the estate so why would they put these doors on?

“I don’t know how the hot water ended up getting back on but we eventually got it back in the evening.

“Maybe they found someone skinny to fit through and flick the switch.”

In a video shot of the incident by Ms Gayle on Sunday, January 2 , a repairman sent by Lambeth council can be seen trying to open the boiler room, only for the door to hit a concrete step.

Access to the room is only possible through a small gap that the man was too big to fit through.

Exasperated, Ms Gayle says: “We’ve had no hot water since last year. Your company must be able to send somebody skinny or something. That is ridiculous. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

It is the third time in less than a month that estate residents have been left without hot water or heating, according to Ms Gayle.

She arrived home from a trip seeing her daughter on December 19 last year to find the heating and hot water off.

Less than a week later, residents lost heating and hot water on Christmas Day [December 25].

They say it is the third consecutive Christmas Day that the flats’ heating and hot water has broken.

Ms Gayle said: “It’s mainly people over 80 years old here – many are bed-ridden.

“They’re dependent on someone else contacting the council about these problems.

“They’re sitting in the cold or without hot water before I return or the warden comes along.”

A spokesperson for Lambeth Council said: “We were informed of a problem with the heating and hot water system at Macintosh Court over the new year holiday and immediately sent out an engineer to fix it.

“The intermittent fault was caused by air entering the system from a leak in another part of the building, and shutting off the boiler. Residents were given help throughout this disruption, including through portable heaters.

“The fire doors are difficult to open outwards due to the location of the steps, and impossible to open inwards due to the space and equipment installed in the very small service cupboard.

“The original door wasn’t fire compliant so was changed late last year but the council knew an alternative needed to be found as a permanent measure.

“A replacement operable door is now being fitted to overcome the space restrictions whist ensuring fire safety is maintained.”