Marine Court residents left without hot water for a week

Maintenance staff at the St Leonards block of flats had to turn off the supply after the fault was discovered above C block on April 30.

The hot water was finally turned back on eight days later on Saturday after engineers fixed the problem.

It was the second time Marine Court residents have been deprived of hot water this year because of a leak. A similar problem occurred in early March and the supply was cut off for almost a week.

Several angry people contacted the Observer to speak about their frustration.

Gavin O'Callaghan said he had to take his one-year-old daughter Bethany to her grandmother's house in Manor Road to have her evening bath because of the lack of hot water.

He said: "A lot of people got fed up as we were told many times it would be fixed earlier than it was. It's ridiculous and disgraceful."

Antoinette Nicholas, who is 90, said she was unable to take a bath because of the stoppage.

She said: "There were reports that something was wrong with one of the boilers. All the residents in Marine Court were affected and there are more than 100 who live here.

"I found it rather distressing. There was no hot water in the bathroom nor in the kitchen."

Charlie Stewart, another resident, said: "The management agents, Godfrey John and Partners in Bexhill, failed to act on this throughout despite assuring us that they have.

"They have treated us with arrogance and derision throughout.

"Marine Court has many old and infirm residents in it."

Daniel Skipp, manager at Godfrey John and Partners, said residents had access to cold water throughout the eight days.

He said: "The hot water supply had to be cut off because of a burst pipe. The flats directly below started flooding as the pipe is directly connected to the supply.

"We tried to get contractors out but were unsuccessful as this happened just before the Bank Holiday weekend."

Mr Skipp added that his staff tried again to get the problem fixed the next day (May 1) but then had to bring in a specialist company from London, which was unable to visit Marine Court until last Thursday (May 6) at the earliest.

He said: "We tried to do everything as quickly as possible for residents. Obviously it is not nice having no hot water."