Scots 'living in a bombsite' months after storm damaged tower block
Damage to tower block still hasn't been repaired after four months.
Tower block residents say they are still 'living in a bombsite' - months after a storm ravaged their roof.
Tenants say a huge chunk of plaster crashed down from the top floor of the block in Tower Drive in Gourock. They say they still suffer regular water leaks - and have to call out the fire service.
They say that more than four months on River Clyde Homes (RCH) still hasn't repaired the damage. One home owner Doris Fadek says she's had to call out firefighters several times since January amid concern at water damage to her home.
She said that the close floods badly whenever it rains, posing a safety hazard to residents and visitors.
She said: 'It's a matter of safety, first of all. People are actually living here. They are not just working around bricks and mortar.
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'We are just getting stonewalled. I told them that 'you don't want me to fall and crack my skull'.'
Doris, who moved to Gourock from the United States three years ago, said the noise when the ceiling fell in after the storm was 'like a bomb dropping'.
She says that if anyone had been underneath the section that fell, 'they would have been gone'.
Doris made her most recent call to the fire brigade on Saturday.
She said: 'They were checking for water ingress. They had to cover up my electricity meter because the cupboard where the meter is located was damp.
'They said we needed an electrician, but the message was never passed on.
'The left hand doesn't seem to know what the right hand is doing.'
Looking back on the day when she was stuck in her flat after a leak in the close caused her front door to swell, Doris said: 'The fire brigade were absolutely great. They managed to get the locks open and chiselled down part of the door.'
Anna Fitzpatrick, 28, who lives in the building with her partner Andrew, said: 'It's still leaking since the storm. We have buckets out on the landings to catch the rain.
'We were in bed that Saturday night, and we heard a big bang.
'We thought it was just a neighbour coming in from a night out. I didn't realise what had happened until the night morning when I got up to go to work and there was rubble lying down at the bottom of the close.
'I called the emergency contact number and they said someone would come out.
'They put tarpaulin covering on the roof, but it is still leaking.
'We've all phoned and complained, but nothing is being done.
'The stairs are slippy. There are elderly people and young children living in the building. They could slip and fall.
'River Clyde Homes don't tell us if someone is coming out or when they are coming out.'
RCH has written to the home owners in the block to tell them the cost of the repair will work out at £800 each - but have given no indication of when the work might start.
Anna said: 'If they had done something sooner, it wouldn't have cost us all so much.
'Multiple people have complained, I've phoned and other neighbours have called.'
A River Clyde Homes spokesperson said: 'We are currently in consultation with owners over repairs to the flat roof above the close area, which was found to be badly damaged on inspection, and to redress internal damage caused by water penetration.
'We have attended several times to ensure the safety of the affected areas and apologise for the delay while we work with owners to commence these repairs.'
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