Disabled East Yorkshire woman 'given bucket' by council for leaky roof

The daughter of a disabled woman says her mother was given a bucket by the council while waiting more than a month for repairs to a leaky roof.

Vicky Westoby said her 66-year-old mother Pauline Westoby, who has a back condition and asthma, has to empty the bucket at least twice a day since reporting the issue to East Riding of Yorkshire Council on 18 December.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council has not been able to access the privately-owned flat above her mother’s to get to the leaking pipe.

Ms Westoby said: “All the pipes are under the floorboards in the flat above my mum’s so you can only get to them in there. We reported it to the council and said we needed to get it sorted. A maintenance person came and said they would but left my mum a bucket to collect the water in until it could get fixed.

“Since then it’s just gone on and on and my disabled mum has been having to stand up and down, and walk around emptying a bucket two or three times a day.

"She has asthma and the leak is making her kitchen damp. She’s been stuck in this situation in her flat having to listen to the drip, drip, drip from the leak."

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The 66-year-old suffers from osteoporosis, a back condition which weakens bones and makes them more fragile over the course of several years.

Ms Westoby said conditions in the flat in The Garth, Cottingham, have made her mother depressed.

“I can’t believe they would leave her like that and it’s more than a month on from us reporting it. This isn’t the first time this has happened either – my mum’s had about three leaks repaired in the last few years," she said.

“But one got fixed and the walls got redecorated, and then there was a leak from the shower which marked the wallpaper. So now she thinks there’s no point in redecorating because it’ll just get ruined.

“It’s absolutely horrendous, my mum’s kitchen and bathroom are 25 years old. We want to put new ones in but we can’t because of this leak. It’s made her depressed, she doesn’t want to be here.”

An East Riding Council spokesperson said works to fix the leak had been scheduled for this week.

They said: "Afterwards we will be in contact with them and our tenant to make sure this has been sorted and we will carry out any remedial work that is necessary in the tenant’s flat."

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