Pregnant Rutherglen woman forced to sleep on couch due to dampness

Dec 5 2012 by Will Henshaw, Rutherglen Reformer

A heavily pregnant Rutherglen woman has been forced to sleep on her couch by dampness problems which have plagued her council house since June.

Helen Gardner (35), of Pinkerton Avenue, is due to give birth on January 14, however since the main bedroom of her house is riddled with dampness, she has to sleep on the couch downstairs.

She has six children, and her seven-year-old son Jamie suffers from asthma, which is being made worse by the damp conditions.

However since Helen moved in to the property over two years ago, there has been no guttering on the house. This is has what has made her bedroom so damp she cannot sleep in it at night.

She said: “The council have said they can’t do anything inside that it’s the guttering that needs to be fixed. I reported it as an emergency but I’m still waiting.

“I can’t bring a new born baby in to a house when there’s dampness like this.

“It’s already a nightmare sleeping on the couch. I have six kids so there’s no where else for me to sleep.

“The dampness in the room is so bad there have been mushrooms growing out the wall.”

A spokesman for South Lanarkshire Council said: “Work was carried out earlier this month in an attempt to resolve this issue. It would now appear that this has not fully resolved the leak and a further repair visit took place last week.

“As soon as the issue with the leak has been resolved, we will contact Mrs Gardner to attend to any internal repairs.”