Action Desk round-up

Catherine Skinn, of Bignor Road in Sheffield, contacted Action Desk as a new street light in her road was preventing her from reversing safely out of her driveway.

She had to tuck in her car’s wing mirror to be able to squeeze past it and said she believed the positioning of the street light was ‘unsafe’.

Ms Skinn said that she tried to resolve the problem herself with council contractor Amey and contacted them in early November last year when she saw the street light being installed.

She said: “I contacted them when the street light was originally placed, even before the light had been attached to state the concerns I had with the position of light on such a small section of wall between myself and my neighbour.”

She said she was told days later that it had been positioned in line with British Lighting Standards but Amey would undertake a site visit.

Ms Skinn said: “I heard nothing more from the company until one evening at approximately 8.45pm, when I was aware of a flashing light outside my property.

“When I looked through the curtains there were two workmen taking photographs of the light in the dark.”

She was then told in December that Amey was happy with the position of the street light and it would stay as it was.

Ms Skinn said: “All I have asked of them is that it is moved 2cm to the left to allow me to reverse out of my property without having to tuck the wing mirror in, which I do not believe I should have to do.

“If the street light had been placed 2cm to the left it would be in line with fencing and therefore there would be no issue.

“Amey have been unwilling to listen or reason with me around the difficulty.”

ACTION:

Action Desk contacted Amey to ask if anything could be done to move the street light so that Ms Skinn could leave her driveway safely.

They responded to say they were aware of the issue and would be relocating the light.

A Streets Ahead spokesman said: “We would like to reassure Ms Skinn that we were already aware that the street light in question on Bignor Road would require repositioning slightly and the work for this has been scheduled.

“A member of the Streets Ahead street lighting team has visited Ms Skinn and has explained that the street light will be moved to its new position and it will then be connected to the power supply.

“The new position of the street light will make it easier for Ms Skinn to access her driveway.”

Family left without internet over Christmas period

After seeing a good deal online in November, a Sheffield family switched their phone line and broadband provider to local firm Plusnet.

They were left without internet over the Christmas period after their order was unexpectedly cancelled.

Steve Haynes, who lives with his young son and fiancée, said the initial fee was paid and all details were given to the service provider.

However on the ‘go live’ date, Mr Haynes contacted Plusnet to clarify exactly when everything would be up and running – only to be told that the connection they had agreed to could not be delivered to their postcode. As a result, PlusNet had cancelled the order.

During the call, Mr Haynes was told that a new order would have to be set up and that it would be a further 10 days before the new connection could ‘go live’.

Mr Haynes said: “Whilst this was bad enough, I would have loved if this was the only issue we had experienced.”

He told Action Desk that further to the initial cancellation, the family had the same issue twice more.

Mr Haynes said: “Naturally, if we had known then what we know now we would have thanked Plusnet for their time and gone elsewhere months ago.

“But their operatives continually told us that we would experience the same issues elsewhere and as they were dealing with our issues it would take them less time than starting from scratch with another provider.”

ACTION:

Action Desk contacted Plusnet to ask why the family were unable to get online.

A spokesman from the company said: “We’d like to apologise to Mr Haynes for the delay he has experienced with his broadband order, we pride ourselves on award-winning service. There was an issue at his local network exchange, which we’ve investigated and Mr Haynes is now online.

“Our service team has been in close contact with Mr Haynes throughout, he has been refunded the full cost of landline and broadband for the period of time he had no service and has received a goodwill gesture.”

Floor fiasco finally sorted for council tenant

Council housing tenant Ian Cawthorne had a brand new kitchen floor laid in his property.

However, tiles kept coming off and laminate flooring was put down as a replacement.

But Mr Cawthorne said the laminate was laid incorrectly, it had ‘bubbled and rippled’ and had partially come away.

Mr Cawthorne said the issues had started in January 2015. He was told by a contractor that the whole floor would need replacing again but then heard nothing from the council for weeks as to when this would be done so he contacted Action Desk.

ACTION:

Action Desk contacted Sheffield Council to ask when Mr Cawthorne’s floor would be replaced and were told that the property was managed by Kier. The company apologised and a new floor has now been fitted.

A Kier spokesman said: “We are sorry for the inconvenience Mr Cawthorne has experienced and that our service hasn’t met the high standards that we would expect.

“The delay was due to a miscommunication between ourselves and our subcontractors and we can confirm a new floor was fitted on Tuesday, January 12.”