A Leeds pensioner has been going “mad” over a leak in his bedroom from a hole in his roof – which he was told wouldn’t be fixed until February.
Water has been “pouring” into his bedroom through a leak caused by the hole and it’s been making the 71-year-old’s life a misery. Peter Blackshire, who lives in a council flat in Fearnley Place in Armley, says he’s not been able to get Leeds City Council to fix it for seven-weeks, ever since reporting it at the beginning of December.
Instead, he’s had to place a bucket beneath the leak which keeps “filling up” and worries the whole bedroom ceiling will collapse at any given moment – especially if the weather gets cold and icy over the next month.
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The grandfather-of-four was told the scaffolding firm was too “busy” until next month. He’s demanded Leeds City Council: “Get off you’re a**** and get it done! This is not doing my health any good.”
After Leeds Live got in touch with the council, it has said the necessary work will be carried out as soon as possible to the roof of his first floor flat in the two-storey building.
This comes after an infuriating seven-weeks for the retired lorry driver. Peter said multiple workers have visited to investigate the hole in the roof but all shrugged their shoulders, claiming nothing could be done about it unless scaffolding is erected.
He’s been told the hole in the roof resulted from a water gully, designed to extract falling rainwater off the roof, which had worn away over time.
Peter said: “There’s absolutely nothing getting done. It makes me worried. With being retired, I go away a lot but I can’t leave here in case it drops. I’m thinking about it all the time.
“I’m mad. I’ve had enough of it. It gets me down. I can’t get up there to have a look, I keep thinking of how much water there may be up there. When February comes, what if it’s thick with snow?
“I’ve had about six men come to look at it and they said ‘not my job, I can’t do it’. That’s all you get off them. I rung [contractors] Mears again and told them it’s been seven weeks, they said I’d have to wait until February as they can’t get scaffolding up. It’s a joke.”
A Leeds City Council spokesperson said: “The council takes all reports of leaks seriously and we apologise for any delays that have happened in this case.
“A major leak to the roof was fixed in December 2022. Since then, a further leak was reported which has been found to be in a different location on the roof.
“At the time of the original repair, the weather was dry, and a second leak was not noticeable to our contractor. A temporary repair has been carried out to the roof and our contractor will reattend on Wednesday 11 January (weather permitting) to complete a permanent repair.”
A Mears spokesperson said: "We apologise to Mr Blackshire for the delay. We have been out today, and the second leak can be completed without scaffolding, however as it is raining we have allocated a job first thing tomorrow.
“There is a temporary fix in place to divert any water that penetrates the building. We have spoken to Mr Blackshire to confirm next steps which he has confirmed he is happy with this."
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