Chronicle has power to help with shower

A STINKING shower room which almost forced an Oldham carer to put her disabled husband into a home, has been fixed after help from the Chronicle.

Velma Taylor (51) has had to look after her husband Michael (40) full-time at Angelico Rise, Sholver, since he was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident 11 years ago.

He walks with difficulty with a stick guided by other people and has short-term memory loss.

A ground-floor shower room and bedroom extension was built at the council property in 2000 so Mr Taylor could leave hospital.

But Velma says she was left at her wit’s end because it never worked properly, despite several attempts by council workmen.

She said: “When I flushed the toilet or ran water in the sink it came up through the shower floor.

“Workmen came to unblock it, and they even fitted a special machine but it didn’t resolve the problem.

“I had to get Michael upstairs to my bathroom but he has to sleep upstairs, and I was frightened of him falling.

“I kept trying to get help from the council and I didn’t know where else to turn. I was even considering putting Michael in a home, which I didn’t want to do because I love him to bits.”

But after the Chronicle contacted First Choice Homes and Oldham Council, Velma said seven workmen tackled the problem and found that two pumps were not working. A manhole outside the property was blocked.

Velma, who has been married for 22 years, said: “This is the first time in eight years someone has taken my complaints seriously. Thank you very much.”

Michael was a motorway contractor whose work took him all over the country.

His accident was in Cornwall and he was treated in specialist hospitals in the West Country before returning home in 2000.