1 week Ago
A devastated father is appealing to the community to help him and his daughter, 7, to rebuild after their home was ruined by a burst pipe. Carl Foster’s Balderton home was badly damaged after a pipe in his bathroom burst on Saturday night, March 29, and water has causes severe damage to his bedroom, his daughter’s room, and pouring through the kitchen ceiling, leaving a gaping hole. “I woke up to a swimming pool,” he said, “The water has poured through the ceiling all onto my belongings, flooded the carpets on both floors and made it uninhabitable.
” Carl, a taxi driver, is currently living at his partner’s mum’s house while the landlord arranges the repairs to the house, which are estimated to take a few months and is being dealt with through his insurance. But as Carl did not have any contents insurance (“It wasn’t very profitable and I was trying to shrink some costs, I never thought this would happen,” he said), he is now having to start from scratch to replace his daughter River’s and his possessions and furniture, not to mention all new carpets throughout the house, costing in excess of thousands of pounds. River, who is non-verbal autistic, who Carl shares custody of and stays with his on weekends, has also had her bed and toys destroyed, and as there is so much damp in the house, she can’t stay with Carl until the house is repaired, or he is given temporary accommodation.
He is currently waiting to hear from Newark and Sherwood District Council to see if they can provide temporary accommodation, and hopefully a two-bedroom property as otherwise he will be unable to have River stay with him. “We’re going to need new everything,” Carl said, “My daughter’s toys including her wooden dolls house, play kitchen and her wooden bed and her toys. “It’s quite odorous with all the bacteria in the air so we can’t move back in until it is sorted.
” A GoFundMe page is now active so https://www.gofundme.com/f/recover-from-water-leak for anyone who can make a donation to their home recovery process.
If anyone has any items they could donate to Carl and River to help them to start again — including living room and bedroom furniture, toys, and other household items, please contact Carl via the GoFundMe page. Newark and Sherwood District Council is unable to comment on individual cases. Suzanne Shead, Director of Housing, Health and Wellbeing at the district council, said: “In an emergency such as a flood, the District Council can support residents with emergency temporary accommodation if the property is not safe to live in.
“District Council colleagues within the housing team then work with the affected resident and their landlord to enable the resident to return to their home as soon as possible or secure an alternative solution to their housing needs.”.
