Single mum given apology after Mears contractor calls her defective council home a 'meth den' in Milton Keynes

A distressed mum forced to leave her council home for five months due to a major gas problem was dealt a final insult from one of the contractors sent to deal with the issue.

The man, sent by MK Council contractors Mears, was captured on CCTV doorbell footage discussing the premises with colleagues before they went inside.

In the video, which the Citizen has seen, he is asked about the property's unopened garage and states: "It's a meth den."

This week the video was passed to MK Council, who immediately said the comment was "completely unacceptable behaviour. Council officials also showed Mears, who have now apologised.

For the 33-year-old tenant, the insult was the final straw in a saga of problems with the ground floor Fishermead Boulevard flat. It started last September when she noticed a strong smell of gas, said her brother, who was been battling with the council on her behalf.

"She followed the correct processes to get the gas board out, and this resulted in her and other residents within the block of flats being evacuated at 3am. No community centre or anything was offered for her and her children to take refuge in," he said.

The next day, at 4pm, the council offered a Travel Lodge hotel room the woman and her two children, who are aged eight and 16. The family ended up staying for a month, in one room, and with no means of cooking or preparing food.

The older child, who is disabled, found this difficult and unsettling, said the brother.

"She could not settle her son with a disability and wasn't allowed a mini fridge to prepare school lunches or prepare dinners. She had nothing to cook meals on. She had to buy takeaways and pre-made sandwiches for her children's school dinners," said the brother.

After battling with the council, the family was finally moved into a two bedroom flat on Brooklands.

"She wasn't allowed to make it a home for her family and was under strict instructions not to make changes to the flat," said her brother.

Meanwhile, following inspections, it was found the flat at Fishermead had a fuel contamination issue. To resolve it, major works were needed, with contractors digging down underneath the footings to remove the contaminated soil, the tenant was told.

Due to the extent of the problem. the woman was promised a a permanent move out of Fishermead Boulevard, said her brother. But this has never transpired and now she is being told she must return to the flat.

Her brother said: "The council made contact with me, as I am supporting her, to inform me that her property is safe for her to move back into now the electrical test has now been completed.

"But they haven't even dug the ground floor to remove the contaminated soil under the property. The flat is riddled with mould all over the kitchen sides and walls and there is leak in the bathroom. The son's bedroom is also riddled with mould and the floorboards have now weakened due to damp and mould on the floor."

To make matters worse, the woman's furniture was not put in heated storage as promised as is now also covered in mould, he says.

The brother claims his sister has now been given 10 days to leave the temporary flat on Brooklands and return to Fishermead.

"But the property is not in a safe living condition for her to live in with her children. She has struggled physically, emotionally and mentally and she has told the council of this. Her son turned to self-harming as due to his disability he didn't understand.

"All of this was brushed aside by MK Council and their excuse was 'there is nothing we can do to support you at this current time'."

The 'meth den' slur captured on video was the final insult, said the brother.

A spokesman for MK Council told the Citizen today: "We do appreciate that there’s been uncertainty and stress for our tenant and her family. We acted as fast as possible to keep everyone safe and provided the best accommodation available at the time. We’re sorry that we didn’t move the furniture into storage more quickly and will discuss reimbursement with our tenant for the damage. We’ve carried out extensive work to ensure that the property is safe to return to, and any further work required will be carried out immediately before the family moves home."

Of the comment on the video he said: "This behaviour is completely unacceptable from a supplier. We have raised this with the management directly."

A spokesman for Mears said: "This is clearly unacceptable behaviour, and we will be reviewing this situation with the contractor involved immediately to remind them of their responsibilities.

"The individual who was also involved has since left our employment, however if they were still employed by Mears, they would be subject to our disciplinary procedure.

"Whilst the individual has left the company, we are very sorry that the resident was subject to this behaviour - to work with the residents of Milton Keynes is a privilege and we know that the vast majority of our local teams understand this."