Housing boss sorry for Prudhoe woman's nightmare

Posted by The Journal on Dec 30, 08 04:53 PM in News

A housing company boss has apologised for a mum's nightmare Christmas when she and her son were left without heating or hot water.

Divorcee Margaret Masters had planned to have Christmas dinner with her 84-year-old mum Elizabeth Mason, but, with just eight days to go, Mrs Mason died.

Margaret Masters and her son Benedict

The nightmare got worse for already devastated mother-of-three Mrs Masters on Christmas Eve when she returned from a shopping trip to find water leaking through the ceiling of her home in Stanley Crescent, Prudhoe.

The leak got worse and at 10pm she called her landlord, Milecastle Housing, for help. The workman who came over worked until midnight to fix the leak and was prepared to keep going, but Mrs Masters asked him to stop ripping out her kitchen ceiling because her six-year-old son Benedict was asleep.

She was left without heating or water and with a gaping hole in the ceiling on Christmas Day and spent the day with her cousin Katherine Palmer, in Winlaton.

Her other two children, Luke, 14, and Natasha, 10, were staying elsewhere when the domestic disaster happened.

Later on Christmas Day a workman from Milecastle Housing spent two or three hours working at Mrs Masters' house and fixed the problem, but on Boxing Day it happened again and a third workman had to be sent out.

"It was an absolute nightmare, a terrible experience," said Mrs Masters.

Bill Tebay, managing director of Milecastle Housing, said: "We are very sorry for the distress and inconvenience caused to Mrs Masters."

He added: "Our emergency out-of-hours repairs service responded as quickly as they could and we are pleased to report that Mrs Masters' heating and hot water have now been restored. We have also arranged to make full repairs to the property."

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