An Angus widow is suffering a terrible start to 2011 after burst pipes wrecked her bungalow while she was holidaying in Spain.
Abroad with her son and grandson, Morag Begg was oblivious to the havoc being wreaked on her Arbroath house after pipes froze when contractors turned off the 75-year-old’s gas supply as part of a repair programme.
They had dropped a card through her door to let her know the work was going on. But with Mrs Begg enjoying a break with her son Mike, she was unable to do anything about the freeze and the resultant flood will take tens of thousands of pounds and weeks to repair.
The crisis has ruined their holiday, and as Mr Begg spent Hogmanay frantically trying to arrange emergency repairs, his mother is now dreading the scene she will shortly come home to.
“I collected mum and took her away on holiday and then on the 17th the contractors, Turriff, turned off the gas to my mum’s house,” Mr Begg told The Courier from Spain.
“They put a card through her door to let her know that they were to be doing the work, but of course she wasn’t there.
“I think what has happened is that one of the main pipes into her cold water feed has burst and it has just been pouring through the roof in the attic,” he said.
“I think it’s completely cavalier to be working on this in the temperatures as they were and this has just been a nightmare — it’s ruined the holiday for all of us, but especially my mum.”
A neighbour who had been left with keys to check Mrs Begg’s home discovered the damage just before New Year.
“It’s brought the roof down in the bedroom, severely damaged the hall and other parts of the house and the water has ruined her clothes in the wardrobes,” Mr Begg said.
“Unfortunately we can’t really do an awful lot from here. I have tried to contact Turriff but they haven’t got back to me and I’ve spoken to my insurance company to get them to shore up the place.”
Mr Begg also called in Dundee building firm Intona, whose Hogmanay inspection of the property revealed damage running to tens of thousands of pounds.
“It’s emanated from the attic and brought parts of the ceiling down. It’s a fairly big job and would be six weeks of work to repair,” said the firm’s Ronnie Mitchell.
“Floors will have to be lifted and it’s going to need full decoration. There must have been a colossal amount of water.”
The Courier tried to contact Turriff but there was no response.