Reading resident with cerebral palsy left without hot water after missed emergency repair
A disabled man from Reading says he was left without full use of hot water for four days at his Southern Housing flat.
Dave Jurgensen lives on the ground floor at Luscinia View. He has multiple disabilities, including cerebral palsy (he uses a walking stick), asthma and dyslexia.
He says he was left without hot water on Tuesday, March 18, and had to chase Southern Housing and its contractor TSG for a repair.
“The emergency repair I logged for loss of hot water was not attended within the required six-hour timeframe, and I have received no call, no text, and no email from TSG or Southern Housing.
“Your advisor confirmed attendance would be within up to six hours from 1pm, yet no engineer has arrived and no communication has been made. This is a clear failure to meet your emergency repair obligations.
“I also need to make clear that I am a disabled resident with cerebral palsy, and the repeated loss of hot water places me at significant risk. The inability to wash, manage pain, or maintain hygiene is a serious health and safeguarding concern. These failures directly affect my daily living and wellbeing.”
Mr Jurgensen asked to be moved to alternative accommodation, saying: “My home is not currently safe or habitable for me, and the repeated failures - combined with missed emergency attendance - show that the situation is not being managed appropriately.”
An engineer did attend, but Mr Jurgensen says problems remained. “The engineer informed me that resetting the boiler would fix everything. However, he did not tell you that the issue was fully resolved.
“At the moment, I only have hot water in the kitchen sink and the shower, but there is still no hot water at the bathroom sink, so the repair is not complete.”
Southern Housing told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that an engineer visited on Saturday, March 21 and restored his hot water. “The repair issue was reported to us on March 18, and our engineer left his home on Saturday with everything working as it should. We’d encourage Mr Jurgensen to get in touch with us if he has any further repair issues.”
However, in a follow-up email on Thursday, March 26, Mr Jurgensen reported he had no hot water in the shower.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
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