Mum pleads with Bolton at Home to give her a front door ­— or let her replace it

Oktawia Wojcik has been left without a front door since a fire broke out in the kitchen in Victoria Court, Farnworth, more than two months ago after firefighters had to break into the property.

She said Bolton at Home boarded one side of the door up following the fire and a month later returned to board the inside of the door after Miss Oktawia suffered a security scare.

Now she says the lack of a front door is compromising her safety, and making the most basic of tasks, such as shopping, putting bins out ­— a real challenge as she faces a good few minutes walk to get to the front of the house.

But Bolton at Home told The Bolton News the lack of a front door was not classed as an emergency job and that Miss Wojcik is prohibited from getting a private contractor to do the work.

Miss Wojcik, who was working until being furloughed, said: "The fire was nothing too serious, and I was told that it would take four to six weeks to replace the front door and it now it is over two months.

"If there was a fire I could not get out of the front door. I understand that it is lockdown and I have been ringing Bolton at Home two, three times a week saying I will get someone to fix the door, but I am told I will need permission to do that but that they won't be able to give permission at the moment.

"I don't expect much I just want the door replacing and I was willing to do it myself and it is making my life complicated and getting me down

"It makes me really cry and last time I spoke to Bolton at Home it was so upsetting I don't expect anything for free, I am going to pay for the door anyway so why cannot I do it? I know it is lockdown, but let me do it, I never thought it would be this difficult to replace a front door."

Said Miss Wojcik: "I am unable to receive post as the post man cannot gain access to the letterbox as there is no door. In order to leave my home I have to go through the back door and I have to walk around the whole neighbourhood to get to my parked car as there are locked gates which make access more difficult. I have asked for the keys but can't get them. This causes me difficulty during errands which would normally be simple for me such as unpacking the shopping from my car boot and taking my child to and from school as I also have to take a pram with me everywhere I go as my baby does not walk yet.

"The back streets I have to go through are poorly lit in terms of street lighting and now that is getting darker, I find it uncomfortable and quite scary, especially as I have small children. Even taking my waste out into recycling bins is a huge issue for me as I have to walk a long distance whilst holding my child as I do not have anybody who can stay with them whilst I do this and it is too far away for them to be left alone. This week I paid £30 to have my rubbish collected because it is too difficult to put out."

She said she has tried parking closer to the back street, only to find her car damaged the next morning, normally she would park it at the front of her house.

Miss Wojcik said: "I am so frustrated, I truly don’t know what to do anymore, this has affected my life a lot."

Paul Taylor, Director of Technical Services for Bolton at Home, said: “We’re sorry that we’ve not been able to replace Miss Wojcik’s front door sooner, and for the inconvenience this has caused.

“We carried out an emergency repair initially to secure the door and to check Miss Wojcik could still exit and enter the property safely.

“We advised Miss Wojcik not to arrange the repair herself as works need to be carried out to an agreed specification and we’ll be making an appointment to go back and replace it.

“To minimise the risks posed by COVID-19 we’re currently only carrying out emergency repairs. We’re working to get our full repairs service up and running again as soon as it’s safe to do so.

“We’d like to reassure tenants with outstanding non-emergency repairs that resuming the service is a big priority for us and we thank people for their patience over the last few months.”