Crayford family go weeks with no electricity after next door fire

Sarah Moss lives with her partner and five young children, and claims she has been left with anxiety and depression due to the damage caused by a fire at her neighbour's on Tuesday, July 16.

Fire crews came to the scene at around 9.30pm that night, and at around 11.45pm Sarah and her family were told that the fire was out, and it was safe to go back inside.

While the fire was out, the water used to put it out had left Sarah’s house in disarray.

Damage in flat after the fire (Image: Sarah Moss)

She called the L&Q emergency out of hours number straight away and explained the situation but has since slammed their “unbelievable” lack of help.

Sarah said: “We have air fresheners, but you can still smell the damp and the smoke from next door.

“We didn’t have a working fire alarm for a week because that for some reason is connected to my downstairs lights – and L&Q were aware of that also.

“Our extractor fan in the bathroom was also connected. It’s just been awful.

“What it’s done to my mental health is unbelievable.

“I’m just a mess if I hear a noise.

“Even my daughter, if she hears a smoke alarm she’s scared that there’s a fire and she’ll ask ‘is it going to burn down?’

“How do you tell a five-year-old that everything’s going to be okay when you yourself don’t know that everything’s going to be okay?”

Damage in flat after the fire (Image: Sarah Moss)

At around 1am the day after the fire, an electrician came to the property and Sarah claims she was told not to turn the electrics and lights back on as it was not yet safe.

Instead, she was told to wait until the morning and contact L&Q.

Sarah says she was promised that someone would come out that day, but nobody did, so she launched a stage one complaint against them.

She added: “It’s a shame it had to go to the complaints procedure before anyone would listen.

“By that point I still had no electrics, no lights - I’ve got five children in the property.

“My little girl’s bedroom is above the damage, so we’ve had to move her out and put her in with my two older boys and they (L&Q) still hadn’t come out.

“So, I made the decision to turn my kitchen electrics back on myself because by that point on Thursday I’d had no electrics, no cookers no fridge or freezer, no nothing.”

On the morning on Friday, July 19, another electrician came and Sarah says she was told that everything had dried out and it was safe to turn all of her electrics back on.

Damage in flat after the fire (Image: Sarah Moss)

However, within around ten minutes Sarah claims she had “an awful burning smell” and that plaster started falling off of the ceiling.

So, she turned her lights off again and continued to try and get help from L&Q.

An L&Q spokesperson has said that an electrician visited the property the day after the fire and checked all of the electrical and lighting systems for water damage.

They went on to say that at this inspection, everything was found to be “working and safe”.

Sarah claims that she was told a surveyor would look at her property that same day but that no one came; she was then told someone would be there on Monday but no one came; and then on Tuesday she was told that someone would “do their best” to get to her home, but again no one came.

Damage in flat after the fire (Image: Sarah Moss)

At this point, Sarah was “not happy about how they dealt with the situation”, and so progressed her complaint to a stage two complaint.

She added: “One of my eldest is asthmatic and I’ve just had to take one of my twin babies and my daughter to the doctors because they’ve now got a cough.

“The doctors said we’re quite lucky as of yet it’s not gone to their chest but due to the damp and the mould we’ve had come in.

“The mould was there in my daughter’s room before, and they’ve not even come out and looked at that.

“We’ve now moved her out for her safety.

“My downstairs hallway looks horrific.

“I’ve got water damage in my front room above my TV, so we have to be without the TV for the week because we weren’t sure if it was safe.

“I walked into two inches of water on my floor.

“We’re on day nine and nobody has come out and I’ve had no correspondence with anybody but this complaints lady.”

Since being contacted by the News Shopper, L&Q has said that it recognises and understands Sarah’s concerns and plans to do another inspection to assure Sarah that her home is safe.

Sarah went on to say that she is “scared” to move around her own home and turn the lights on because “we don’t know if they are going to ‘bang’”.

She claims her doctor has given her the all clear to go on anti-depressants, and that this is the only thing in her life to have made the change in her to now be depressed.

The hallway is covered in “brown stains” which the family had only just decorated and Sarah’s flooring has “lifted” due to the damage.

She said: “I can’t even explain how it’s made me feel, I feel awful.”

In a full statement, a spokesperson for L&Q said: “An electrician visited Ms Moss’s property the day after the fire and checked the entire electrical and lighting system for water damage.

“At that inspection everything was found to be working and safe. 

“However, we recognise and understand Ms Moss’s concerns and an electrician is visiting her home today (Friday) to carry out another inspection to provide further reassurance about the safety of Ms Moss’s home.”

Since then, L&Q has confirmed that an electrician visited the house today (Friday, July 26) to carry out another inspection.

They have said that everything was found to be “working and safe”.