John’s steaming over burst pipe

A WERNETH man is counting the cost of shoddy workmanship after his home was flooded.

John Fletcher (59) is resigned to sleeping on his settee after a pipe linked to his boiler blew off, filling his flat with steam and water and wrecking his carpets and bed.

He said: “I think the system for checking these appliances needs to be more rigorous. No one has checked that equipment since it was put in at Christmas and now it has flooded the whole place.”

Mr Fletcher’s nightmare started when he woke at 5am yesterday to find that his fifth floor flat in Rountree House was filled with steam and water.

He was forced to call firecrews out when he burned himself while trying to fix the problem and by the time they reached the flat, water had seeped through to the floor below.

Neighbour Michelle Swift (42) said: “When John knocked on my door in the early hours, I couldn’t even see him there was so much steam.”

John said: “The worst of it is that there was a flood in my flat at the end of 2007 and it took First Choice Homes 12 months to replace my carpets.

Ged Riley, responsive repairs manager for First Choice Homes said: “This is an unfortunate incident and completely out of FCHO’s control. We take matters of this nature very seriously and have resolved the situation to his satisfaction.”

He said new carpets had been ordered and a £150 decorating voucher has been agreed, which the tenant will receive today.

A contractor company has admitted liability and will refund FCHO appropriately.