Fife man ‘violated’ after council worker ‘broke into his home’ to do gas inspection

A Fife dad has hit out after a council worker “broke into his house” to complete a gas inspection.

Ryan Smart, from Buckhaven, says he had missed two boiler inspections at his home while his son was in hospital unwell due to diabetes.

The 31-year-old was then given a “last chance” third inspection but was at work when a gas engineer called.

Ryan, who works for Fife Council in the social work sector, says he asked if the inspection could wait until he returned home, but was told this was not an option.

He claims the gas engineer then “broke into” his house by drilling through his lock.

Ryan told The Courier: “You get three chances for a gas inspection each year.

“We have been in and out of the hospital with our son so we missed the first two.

“I got a phone call on Thursday to say there was someone at the door to carry out the inspection and they were going to break in if nobody was there.

Buckhaven couple ‘violated’ after Fife Council worker ‘broke into’ home

“I said I could get someone to the house but it wouldn’t be for a couple of hours.

“But I was told the engineer had made the decision and was going ahead with it.

“I phoned the housing manager but there was nothing he could do and I called Councillors Davidson and Craik.

“They tried to reach out to say it was unreasonable but it was too late.

“By the time they got through the engineer had broken in.”

Ryan said he and his partner, who did not want to be named, feel “violated” after the incident.

“If we had the option, we wouldn’t be council tenants, we would have walked away.

“We feel violated that someone has broken into our house.

“They could have been in and looked at anything.”

‘It was an unnecessary situation and an unnecessary cost’

Ryan said the council fitted a replacement lock but the family were not given a key, with a second new lock then placed so they could access their home.

He added: “We were not given a new key to get in the house so we then had to see about getting a new lock.

“I had to phone an emergency repair line to get it sorted.

“The guy was amazing and we explained the circumstances.

“It was an unnecessary situation and it was an unnecessary cost to the council who had to fix the lock.

“The engineer just did what they wanted – that’s really worrying that people get the say to do what they want.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t let them in, it was that I was working.

“I would have let them in to do the check and it wouldn’t have cost them in the end.”

Ryan plans to submit a formal complaint to Fife Council.

Peter Nicol, Levenmouth’s housing manager, said: “The council has a legal responsibility to ensure that the gas boilers fitted in our properties are well maintained and safe to use.

“We only enforce access to a property where previous attempts to arrange a suitable time to carry out the gas service have been unsuccessful.

“Where we have to carry out a gas service in this way, we always leave the property secured with clear instructions on how to arrange for keys to be handed back to the tenant”.