Does no one care asks disabled man left in the cold?

Disabled man left to freeze

Chris Eaborn, keeping warm next to an old gas fire, lent to him by a neighbourChris Eaborn, keeping warm next to an old gas fire, lent to him by a neighbour

Published on Wednesday 30 January 2013 12:34

A DISABLED man trapped in his freezing Wigan home has made a public cry for help after having his power cut off for more than three days.

Chris Eaborn was so desperate for help after his electricity was cut off that he put notices in his window crying “HELP! We have had no electricity or heating for 72 hours. Does anyone care at all?”

Another reads: “We cannot cook any food, we cannot shower, basic human rights denied,”

The 56-year-old had been hoping for a quick fix after cable fault hit his home in Woodhouse Lane, Beech Hill, last Saturday night.

With no phoneline, he was forced to seek the help of a neighbour, whose power had also been shut off, to call Electricity North West.

But due to high volumes of calls following the bad weather, Mr Eaborn was unable to get through until Monday morning,

So he put up an SOS message in his window, hoping someone would take pity and help him and the two other houses in the row of terraced homes affected.

The resident, who has an ulcerated leg, said; “I have no power, no heat and I am freezing – there is no damp proofing and I have had two freezing nights.

“I can’t even boil a kettle, have a shower, or cook hot food – I can’t do anything because everything is powered by electricity. I need the heat because of my leg.

“I had no way of contacting anybody, so a neighbour rang Electricity North West, but all she got was a recorded message. We tried again on Sunday, but still nothing.

“We eventually got through on Monday morning, they didn’t even know we had tried all weekend.

“Emergency teams then spent all of Monday digging a hole, but the cable was totally dead, so they had to do the work again the following day.

“Electricity North West gave me a tiny generator but that ran out during the night. It is not even strong enough to heat a kettle. I am relying on neighbours to bring hot water round.

“The power cut has affected two other houses, but the occupiers have relatives to stay with. My nearest family live in Worcestershire.

“Because of my leg, I am unable to leave my house and I am really struggling.”

A spokesman for Electricity North West, said: “We apologise to customers who have been affected by a fault on our underground electricity cable over the weekend.

“We received reports that customers were off supply at 9.45am on Monday and our engineers arrived on site at 11.30am.

“Generators were installed for customers yesterday evening and our engineers are on site working to fix the fault as quickly as possible.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this has caused and we will carry out a thorough investigation into why we received the first report of the fault on Monday morning and we will keep residents fully updated.”

http://www.wigantoday.net/news/local-news/disabled-man-left-to-freeze-1-5363975