A man claims he has no choice but to "cancel Christmas" because he stripped his living room bare for council repairs - a month early due to what appears to have been an unlucky mistake.
Terry Mulchinock, 58, thought work would start on his damaged walls at his home in Hull, East Yorkshire on Monday (December 2) but there was a mix up and it turns out his appointment isn't until January 2.
He removed everything, including the fireplace, before receiving a notification from Hull City Council that his appointment wasn't pencilled in until next month.
Terry was planning on spending Christmas at home this year but now claims he will be forced to go elsewhere - because he reckons it's "pointless" reassembling the room before having to ready it for the work again in a few weeks' time.
"I'm devastated," he said.
"It's shocking, I'm just in limbo. It's as simple as that."
Terry said the council apologised for the misunderstanding but said they would not be able to bring the appointment forward.
He said: "I don't know how I'm going to go forward with this, I'm at my wits' end with it."
Terry contacted Hull City Council when workers didn't turn up at his home.
He said the council told him that the work was actually booked in for January.
Terry insisted that he had been told to expect the workers to arrive at his house on Monday and carry out the repairs over two days - but the council are adamant he was told the appointment was in January.
Terry, who has worked for Hull company Smith & Nephew for 16 years, said: "I got a phone call saying they'd be coming on December 2 and 3 for the work so I cleared everything out and removed the fireplace and they were meant to come between 8am and 12pm. "
A spokeswoman from Hull City Council said: "We can confirm that the appointment made for the repairs to Mr Mulchinock's home is January 2/3, 2020, and at no time did we say that the appointment would take place on the following day.
"We are sorry that he has misunderstood this arrangement and unfortunately, due to our volume of work, we cannot bring the appointment forward."
