Belongings are thrown out in council blunder
Housing chiefs were today accused of a "monstrous mistake" after the locks to one of their garages were changed and up to £6,000 worth of property belonging to the tenant thrown away without warning.
Ann Herbert, who paid £6.72 a week by direct debit to Wolverhampton Homes to use the building in Manor Street, Tettenhall, to store goods after a house move and was £100-plus in credit, was told that it had been let to someone else.
The garage had been stripped of more than 50 items, including a freezer, computer, table and chairs, electrical equipment, motorcycle gear, crockery and ornaments, along with "irreplaceable" personal mementos such as christening presents, pictures painted by her daughterm and family photographs.
Mother-of-one Mrs Herbert from nearby Regent Road, whose husband David is 49, said: "He and I were stunned to find the locks had been changed but that turned to horror when we were told it had been let to somebody else and all the items we had stored there had been disposed of.
"My life was in there. The loss has caused myself and my family a great deal of unnecessary upset. I was in tears when I realised what they had done to us. It was a monstrosity of a mistake that is unforgivable.
"I cannot understand how this could have happened since I paid a month in advance by direct debit and they sent me quarterly statements and a payment card.
"My contract states that I should be given at least 28 days' notice of a change in the letting arrangement but I received neither a letter nor even a phone call. It was disgraceful behaviour."
Mrs Herbert, 45, had rented the garage for around eight months when the property was disposed of in mid-December. Since then she has been waiting for an explanation and suitable compensation from Wolverhampton Homes after submitting a detailed inventory of missing goods valued at around £6,000 and receiving a "derisory" offer of £1,257.31p in full and final settlement of the claim.
Mark Henderson, director of housing at Wolverhampton Homes, said: "We are very sorry for the distress this has caused Mrs Herbert. We can confirm that the locks of the garage were changed and the items found inside were disposed of in error.
"We are currently carrying out an internal investigation to establish what happened in this case and are awaiting the results.
"Mrs Herbert has submitted an insurance claim for the items stored in the garage and an offer has been made based upon our insurer's recommendations. We are sorry that this has happened and can reassure all garage tenants that measures have been put in place so that it does not happen again."
