The housing department are a bunch of ffŵls to do this – and only because they leave homes empty for ages and get paranoid of squatters..,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3705530.stm
Last Updated: Thursday, 30 September, 2004, 20:07 GMT 21:07 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Woman finds her home boarded up
The council mixed up Patricia Driscoll’s home for a nearby flat
A woman returned from a weekend break away to find the council had boarded up her house.
Patricia Driscoll was told the shutters had gone up on her three-bedroom Cardiff council home because officials thought she had abandoned it.
She had to spend the night with a friend after the authority mistook her home for a flat on the same estate.
The council has apologised and replaced the back door which was damaged in the work – and sent Miss Driscoll flowers.
Care assistant Miss Driscoll, 39, lives on the Brynfedw estate in Llanedeyrn with her 13-year-old daughter, Amber.
They are not really sure how the number got twisted up, but the fact that it was a flat and I live in a house is a dead giveaway, isn’t it!
Her 19-year-old son, James, was house sitting for her while she was away for the weekend in Blackpool and Amber was at her grandmother’s.
She said James had been at the property until 1230 BST on the weekday that she returned home, from the railway station some four hours later.
“As we drove up, I could see that there were shutters on my window frames.
“The first thing I did then was that I panicked and looked for black smoke marks on the house, but there weren’t any. Then I thought the house had been smashed in.”
‘Fire hazard’
She said the council’s contractors had just finished the shutter work and were in the garden packing up to leave.
“They said ‘we have been ordered to do this because you had abandoned the property’. I said ‘I’ve been away for the weekend!’
“They said I couldn’t stay in it because it was a fire hazard while the shutters were on.
“So I had to stay at a friend’s overnight and wait till the morning to go to the council to find out what was going on.”
She said it turned out the message from the estate’s caretaker about an empty flat on the other side of the estate had been misunderstood.
The caretaker reported the one-bedroom flat, no 215, but the numbers were somehow rearranged to Miss Driscoll’s house number.
“They said ‘the caretaker reported your flat empty’. I said ‘hold on – flat? I live in a house’.”
‘Sincere apologies
“They are not really sure how the number got twisted up, but the fact that it was a flat and I live in a house is a dead giveaway, isn’t it!
“The thing is, I had just cut the grass last week. There was fresh food in the fridge.
“When it first happened, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but I’m laughing about it now.
A spokesman said: “Cardiff Council extends its sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused to Ms Driscoll.
‘Acted properly’
“The authority owns and manages 14,000 homes around the city.
“Whenever a property falls vacant we fit it with security screens, if appropriate.
“Local housing officers were wrongly informed by colleagues that Ms Driscoll’s home had been abandoned.
“They acted properly in arranging for it to be screened.
“When Ms Driscoll drew the error to their attention, they ensured that the screens were quickly removed.”
