Turning off the Heat to the Elderly
By ldybgsgma99
@ldybgsgma99 (798)
United States
February 18, 2009 5:36pm CST
My mother and stepdad live in Sheffield England in what would be considered federal housing here. They have to pay a very expensive rent to live in this tiny little apartment. They pay a separate amount for their heat and hot water.
The Sheffield City Counsel has now decided that they need to save money. So in order to save this money, they turn off the heat and hot water to each and every apartment in this housing development each night before 11 pm and do not turn it back on until at least 8 am.
How can they get away with this? There are elderly people living in these apartments that need that heat of a night. And Sheffield has been having unusually cold weather and snow this winter. Hell of a time for them to decide to do this. My mothers neighbor suffers from cancer and is going through treatments and has to freeze each night. Isn't he suffering enough the way it is. They do not need to add freezing to death to the list.
I for one am appalled. And I will tell the Sheffield City Counsel that if anything happens to my mother or my stepdad, they will have to deal with me and they will think that dealing with Hitler and the Sheffield Blitz was mild when I get done with them.
1 person likes this
4 responses
@us2owls (1681)
• United States
21 Feb 09
UPDATE - the people living in the apts where we live had one lady call one of te Councillors - What she told her was that as long as theheat was going off at night - no one in the 3 blocks of flats would pay rent,council tax, heatig cost - absolutely nothing until they stipped turninng it off - well last night it was on all night full blast. We will see how long it lasts because we told them wha they were doing was theft - they were taking money for the service and not providing it.
@ldybgsgma99 (798)
• United States
21 Feb 09
Now everyone knows where I get my spunkiness. Way to go mom. Keep up the good work. I am very proud of you and your neighbors for fighting back.
@us2owls (1681)
• United States
20 Feb 09
I am ldybgsgma's Mother and I am here in heffield attempting to get my husband a residents visa so I can get him out of this miserable place.
Not only do they turn the heat off for 8 hours every night - what they are doing no one has hot water either.
We have one lady who has bone cancer - if she gets cold the pain she in is miserable - she wears gloves in the summer because it helps her. Another person has stomach cancer - he can't sleep and is up all hours of the night in the cold. Just what he needs - catch pneumonia. the list goes on and on - and they areall suffering without heat at night.
One man works getting home about 1.00a.m. from work tired and dirty but he can't take a bath or shower andgo to bed beause the water by that time is freezing cold
For this wonderful service the people pay up front for something they are not getting. It is in my opinion disgusting. I think it is nothing but theft on the part of Sheffield City Council. To me it is like going into a store - paying £16 for something as you enter - getting what yu paid for only to have someone take it from you on the way out.
@eaforeman6 (8979)
• United States
18 Feb 09
This is ridiculous. There must be a law that would stop this and protect these people. It is so sad that anyone would think money is more important then human life. I hope you have a lawyer or can get someone to help stop this. There just must be some law to protect these people. Keep us updated. God's speed and blessings to you!
@sonrisa42 (69)
• United States
19 Feb 09
If I were you I would talk to an attorney about this because to me this sounds illegal. I would be very surprised to find out that this is legal to shut off someone's hot water and heat in the manner that they are doing it especially if your mom and stepdad pay their own heat and hot water. Even if they did not, I do not think this is something that is allowed in federal housing. If you can not afford to talk to a lawyer or get a lawyer that gets paid when person suing does then talk to some type of advocacy group that might be able to help get leagl help. If these were my parents I would sue the pants off of them. I am not one for frivolous lawsuits but this is something that should not be allowed or tolerated. One other way to get attention to this situation is try calling your local tv station and see if they are willing to investigate and do a story on this maybe then this practice will cease.
If I were you I would go to the local tv station first and see what results you can get. I would love it if you could let me now how it works out for your mom and stepdad.
Good Luck
Take Care
