Council threatened to break down door to service boiler

COUNCIL officials threatened to break down a woman's door to carry out vital safety checks on her boiler – despite them being done two months earlier.

Christine Dumonceau was accused of persistently refusing the council entry to her home, even though she had an inspection carried out and certificated in July.

The 43-year-old was horrified to be issued with a notice last week threatening forced entry to her two-bedroom bungalow, as well as a £200 bill to cover the council's inconvenience.

She said: "There was a knock at the door and a man handed me a letter from the council, telling me he had been told to deliver it. I couldn't believe what it said. I tried to show him the inspection certificate, but he wasn't interested."

Ms Dumonceau has lived in her council house on Niddrie Mains Road for nearly three years. Every year the council arranges essential health and safety checks to her boiler and this year was no exception.

She said: "I got notification in July to say a service was needed so arranged a date.

"On July 9, a worker arrived, serviced my boiler and was gone in 45 minutes. There were no problems."

The council letter claimed they had made "several attempts" to arrange a date, as well as hand delivering a letter advising her of the need to allow workers access.

To add insult to injury, when Ms Dumonceau contacted the council on Monday to complain about the threatened legal action, she was told there were no records of her boiler being serviced. Staff insisted she fax the certificate to the authority to ensure the threatened action – scheduled for two days later – would be stopped.

She said: "I was so upset. I actually had to prove I was telling the truth."

The French-born resident, who has lived in Edinburgh for 22 years, hit out at the amount of money and time wasted due to an administrative error. She said: "The council disturbed the court, lost paperwork and wasted a lot of money, never mind treating me like a criminal.

"I have never once had an apology or been offered an explanation for the trouble."

A council spokeswoman said: "Unfortunately, there may have been an administrative error in relation to a boiler check being carried out at this property.

"However, we are planning to meet with Ms Dumonceau to go through paperwork to establish the statutory health and safety maintenance work is up to date. We apologise if there has been some confusion and hope to rectify the situation as soon as possible."