A mum has hit out after her son’s first Christmas was “ruined” by damp in her family’s Southmead council house.
The Hazell family’s Ravenglass Crescent home lost power on December 22, after their central heating pipe burst and water poured through the ceiling of their wetroom.
Katrina Hazell, 40, and her children Connor, 20, Nevaeh, 14, Abigail, 13, and Adrian, 11, were left in darkness for around 24 hours before electricity was restored, Bristol Live reported last week.
The house is now riddled with damp resulting from the burst pipe – and Katrina’s daughter Katie, 19, has accused Bristol City Council of failing to address this issue.
'We wanted to celebrate as a family'
She said: “I have a 13-week-old son Taylor, my mum’s first grandchild. This was his first Christmas and we wanted to celebrate as a family, but it was ruined.
“I live in a one-bedroom flat in Lawrence Weston, but the plan was for me and Taylor to stay in the family house on Christmas Eve so we could wake up as a family and open presents.
“But I couldn’t risk Taylor being there for long, because when he was born he wasn’t breathing properly and spent a week in intensive care.
“With the smell of damp and cracks in the walls from all the damp, I couldn’t take the risk, so we ended up just staying there four hours – we opened presents, had dinner and left.”
Katrina and Katie claim the council said it would send a dehumidifier to the home on Christmas Eve, but they say one is yet to arrive.
“The council said we should run it for two to three days to get everything dried out, but no dehumidifier was given to us despite us being in all day for it,” Katrina said.
Spreading damp
The flooding initially affected the wetroom and hallway, but damp has since spread throughout the house.
Katie said: “It’s upset me and my mum. We just wanted to have a nice Christmas, because we don’t get much time together. It takes two buses for me to get to mum’s.
“If caring for Taylor gets too much for me because of my anxiety and depression, my mum is meant to pick him up and look after him, but she can’t do that anymore because of the state of the house.
“It’s messing up my safety plans with my child, and my social worker is saying, ‘Where is he going to go?’”
We put the Hazell family’s latest concerns to Bristol City Council on December 31. The council has yet to respond as of January 1.
A council spokesman said on December 24 that repairs would continue in January.
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