9:06am Friday 21st March 2008
By Suruchi Sharma
A Parkinson's disease sufferer from Radlett has been waiting more than four months for a housing association to provide an electric fan to relieve his respiratory problems.
Steve Gilbert, 55, from Phillimore Place, contacted William Sutton Homes in November to ask for equipment to ventilate his living room.He already uses a dehumidifier to make sure the air is clean to help his breathing problems. Mr Gilbert said: "The living room has terrible ventilation and I have very bad respiratory problems, which means I cough quite a lot." When Mr Gilbert initially got in contact with William Sutton they sent a representative to his flat to discuss options including installing an air brick in the wall, but it was agreed a fan should be installed. He was later contacted in January by a company which said it needed to come to the property to do a damp survey.Mr Gilbert added: "The company that called didn't say they were linked to William Sutton and therefore I told them that I didn't need a damp survey. "My problem isn't to do with damp in the flat but my need to ease my breathing problems. "It wasn't made clear by William Sutton as to who this company was and why they were coming to do the survey. "This has taken so long and William Sutton have confused the situation with this outside company. "I've had Parkinson's disease for three years now and had to give up running my own travel business. This hasn't helped matters with my condition." Jeremy Kape, the housing association's director of property services, said: "We passed the request on to our specialist contractors Dampcure Woodcure to carry out a survey of the property. "Whenever a fan is required we always have to carry out a specialist survey to ascertain we have fitted the right sort of fan which will not cause further problems."However Mr Gilbert has refused the Dampcure Woodcure contractors entry to his property twice."We will be contacting him to explain the situation again and would be more than happy to set up another visit with ourselves and Dampcure Woodcure."
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