A 100-year-old man avoided a potential disaster in his home after quick-thinking work from an Adur & Worthing Councils employee.
Jade Marshall, who works in the housing team, responded to a call from the gentleman's carer asking for help to fix a leaking roof. Heavy rain water was coming through and there was a risk that it could come into contact with the electrics.
Jade, who has been helping out on the Councils' COVID-19 support line, is used to dealing with all sorts of calls. But this one left her unsure about how she was going to solve it.
She explained:
“The gentleman's carer called us out of desperation, having tried but failed to find a roofer who was available to come out. I also called around to see if I could find a roofer but as it was late in the day, and with many tradespeople operating a reduced service due to Covid-19, no one was available until the next day. There was no way I could leave the gentleman in this situation. He is partially sighted and hard of hearing. I needed to find a solution.”
With no time to spare, Jade put in a call into Worthing Fire Service and soon members of the white watch crew were on their way to see how they could help the Goring resident. They made sure that all electrical equipment was moved out of the way or switched off so that the centenarian would be safe overnight, but they were unable to fix the hole in the roof.
Thankfully, local firm Apex Roofing stepped into help the following morning and in no time had the hole in the roof fixed. What's more, they did the repair work for free.
Apex Roofing's Isabelle Charlier said:
“We were glad to help and do our bit to help vulnerable people at this awful time. We checked in with the gentleman the following day after more heavy rain and were pleased to hear there had been no further leaks.”
Photo: Apex Roofing replacing tiles on the leaking roof of the home of the Worthing centenarian to avoid potential disaster
(PR20-050)
