A 91-year-old woman was left high and not very dry by Fife Council after her boiler burst, it has been claimed.
The family of Lochore grandmother Elizabeth Wallace have hit out after being forced to go to great lengths and expense to help dry out her home in Scott Place over the weekend.
The council was called on Friday evening after Mrs Wallace arrived home to find that her back boiler had burst behind her gas fire, although the family was disappointed with the emergency response they received.
The promise of two heaters from the local authority on Friday night also never materialised.
This prompted relatives to rally round to ensure the pensioner could have some sort of comfort in her own home.
“I just think it’s disgusting how they can leave a 90-odd year-old woman in those conditions from Friday to Monday,” her granddaughter, Michelle Spacey, told The Courier.
“We’ve managed to rally around to get some blow heaters and some radiators but that’s going to be her electric being used.
“We phoned Fife Council and the gentleman who came out didn’t have a clue what he was coming into.
“It was not his fault but he was told it was just a leak and couldn’t really help.”
Mrs Spacey said the family were forced to fork out for specialist carpet cleaning machines to soak up the water and also managed to borrow dehumidifiers through their contacts.
“For starters, if the gentleman who came didn’t know what to do, surely there was someone the council could call to suck up the water?” Mrs Spacey added.
Barry McMurdo, project manager with building services, said the council’s aim is to carry out works as efficiently as possible.
“As soon as building services were notified about a boiler leak on Friday, a gas engineer was on site to carry out emergency repairs,” he said.
“We are working hard to resolve this issue and to ensure that heating is fully restored to this property as soon as possible.”
Mr McMurdo added that a heating supervisor was due to visit the tenant to arrange for a replacement heating system as a priority.
“In this case, a full heating system will need to be installed,” he added.
“Our engineer followed protocol, and carried out work to make the boiler safe. An electric fan heater was left in the property.
“Unfortunately, additional heaters requested by the engineer were not delivered, and we are investigating this.”
Mr McMurdo went on to say that a housing neighbourhood officer visited Mrs Wallace on Monday to ensure her wellbeing and that the house is in good repair.