AN elderly widow who complained of damp in the bedroom of her Wellington council flat says she was told to ‘sleep on the sofa’ instead.
Sue Palk, aged 78, of Bulford, blamed tree roots for blocking drainage under her home and causing water to rise into the flooring of her ground floor flat.
Mrs Palk, a retired cleaner who moved to Wellington from Bradford on Tone about six years ago, said she complained to Somerset Council about three months ago when she first noticed damp in the walls.
Since then, the floors of her kitchen and living room have consistently suffered wet patches along the join with walls, damaging her carpets, and mould has been growing in window sills.
However, she said the council had taken little action other than to re-plaster some patches on the wall of her bedroom.
She said: “They promised to deliver a dehumidifier but it has not arrived yet.
“They have not assessed the problem yet and have not seen how damp it is in the living room.
“It is not very nice living like this.”
Mrs Palk’s home in Bradford on Tone had been close to the River Tone and she said: “I was flooded twice, but I have never, ever had anything like this.”
She believed the solution was to unblock the drain outside her flat, but it seemed the council would not even look at it.
The tree at the front of her flat was planted by a previous tenant and it was thought as the roots grew they went through pipes and damaged the drain.
Mrs Palk’s friend Lorraine Faber, of Olands, Wellington, recently cut down the tree as much as she could, but said the roots still needed to be dug out.
Wessex Water engineers who visited the property were able to remove a large cake of mud from the drain but it was not enough to resolve the issue.
Mrs Palk, who lives with her 10-year-old cat Stan, said the engineers agreed the tree was the most likely cause of the problem.
She said: “The water has nowhere to go when it rains, so it backloads into the building.
“The bedroom is not a very pleasant place, you can smell the damp in the air.
“But they just told me to sleep on the sofa in the living room instead, which I do not want to do, I want to sleep in my own bed.”
Mrs Palk moved to Wellington after the death of her husband Michael, who died two weeks before their 50th wedding anniversary.
Somerset Council denied any staff would ever have told Ms Palk to sleep on the sofa, and said issues were first raised in December and necessary works completed before the end of January, while a contractor had since jetted the drain and a follow-up visit would be made.
The spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring that tenants’ homes are free from damp and mould and strive to provide an efficient and effective service to remedy such issues promptly.”