Disabled Nottingham woman forced to shower outside for 6 weeks after bathroom floor rotted away

Nottingham City Council has apologised to a disabled woman who had to shower outside for 6 weeks while waiting for repairs to her bathroom.

Rebecca Royston, 34, is partially paralysed by a tumour in her spinal cord and has a rare inherited disorder which means she doesn't have a kneecap.But her family was left without an accessible bathroom in their council house for more than six weeks.A leak had led to the rotting of the bathroom floor in the home in Strelley meaning Rebecca has had to shower outside in a makeshift bathroom since the end of August.

Despite contacting the city council to try and speed up the needed repair, the family says eight appointments were cancelled shortly before they were supposed to take place.The council said the fix would finally be carried out on 18 October, attributing the long wait to a member of staff who "did not follow procedures correctly."

Rebecca lives with her husband and three children, who went elsewhere to shower, with the situation putting the family under emotional and financial strain.

She said: "The plywood floor of the wet room had rotted away and they came out and ripped up the flooring but didn't get any further.

"They tried to fix it so many times but always cancelled just before I rang to check - I was beginning to think it would never be fixed."Rebecca said she felt she was being "ignored", adding; "Every time I am promised a fix it gets cancelled just before and I only find out when I call up. It's not like I can have a bath as it is a wet room and it is the floor itself that has gone, so you would think it would be an urgent repair."It was more than six weeks without a proper working bathroom, and I have been paying rent all that time. I'm having to put my hot water on for hours so my kids can shower outside in a makeshift shower we set up, which has cost a lot of money."Rebecca made a complaint to the council at the end of September but she says she did not make much progress.

The city council has since apologised to her for the long wait for the repairs and added that she would be compensated.A spokesperson for Nottingham City Council said: "We are addressing the issues that have arisen in this case with an individual member of staff who failed to follow procedures correctly, resulting in the work not being completed as quickly as it should have been."We have assigned a service manager to liaise with Mrs Royston, to help make sure that this issue is fixed as soon as possible. We’re aiming to have the repair fully completed on Wednesday October 18. We are also seeking to compensate Mrs Royston and her family for the inconvenience caused."

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