A Fife woman who lost all of her belongings when council contractors wrongly cleared her flat has branded a £2,000 compensation offer “derisory and an insult”.
Tegan Dickson, 17, was left with just the clothes she went to work in when her property was cleared out by mistake last month.
It happened just days after she had moved into the flat on Aithernie Road in Leven.
Among the items taken and scrapped by contractor Orbis Projects Ltd were a TV, furnishings, clothes, a mountain bike and sentimental items that had belonged to her grandfather.
Despite being alerted to the error, the firm told Miss Dickson her belongings were irretrievable as they had all been destroyed.
She says not only does that not come close to paying for replacement items, the council’s insurance brokers are now demanding she proves ownership of the lost items with receipts and photographs proving the items existed.
But Tegan pointed out the receipts were among the things taken from her home.
Council’s offer branded ‘derisory’
“The whole saga is like a massive bad joke,” Miss Dickson said.
“I’ve been asked to list every single item I owned and to provide photo evidence they even existed.
“Despite it being Fife Council and Orbis’s fault I’m being told I need to provide receipts, even though those were taken and destroyed along with everything else.”
She added: “I’ve been offered £2,000 to settle, which is derisory and an insult.
“Is that all they value my life and livelihood at?
“The contents alone amount to probably three times that amount.
“I’ve had little or no help from the council and no mention of any compensation for the trauma and anguish.
“I had to rely on my family to take me in and was unable to return to my property for over a week.
“It’s a disgrace.”
Apology from council
Gavin Smith, Fife Council’s housing services manager, again apologised for the mistake.
“We’re really sorry for the in inconvenience that this has caused Miss Dickson,” he said.
“I’m in regular touch with Tegan and continue to offer support and help in different ways.
“We took immediate action to provide a permanent, secure furnished tenancy, and we’re continuing to work with her to agree an appropriate settlement for the items lost and support her in the new tenancy.”
He also insisted the process for clearing council properties will be improved, following an investigation into the blunder.
Mr Smith added: “We’ve reviewed and tightened up our process for managing empty properties, including improvements to communications and how we manage keys, to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again within temporary accommodation or across the service.
“We’ll continue to do everything we can to help Miss Dickson and make up for the inconvenience we’ve caused.”
Settlement offer of £2,000
Miss Dickson has refused the £2,000 offer and said she is still waiting for answers about why the mistake happened.
“The council has already admitted it is responsible for the mistake yet the onus seems to be on me to prove I owned the items,” she said.
“There are many as yet unanswered questions on how this was allowed to happen, and how Orbis Projects could allow perfectly good items such as a mountain bike and new television to simply be destroyed.
“In addition, there has been no offer of compensation over and above replacing the items.
“It’s only the support given by family, friends and my employer that has kept me from becoming homeless.”
Miss Dickson now said she is considering taking legal action unless the council takes full responsibility for her ordeal.
“I just want to get on with my life and put an end to this nightmare,” she said.
