It’s been just under four months since Gas Call Services took over the gas heating and hot water repairs and maintenance and once again issues with Landlord Gas Safety Records (LGSR’s) are fast becoming an issue like they were with P & R.
Gas Call Services Limited took over the gas heating and hot water repairs and maintenance of all 17,000 plus homes managed by East Kent Housing for and on behalf of the four Councils of Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe and Thanet on November the 1st 2019.
It has taken some time for reports to reach us, but reach they have, that Gas Call Services are not doing their job properly and they are getting paid for it.
Once again Landlord Gas Safety Records come under the spotlight, across all four districts covered by East Kent Housing. Below is a warning notice of an unsafe boiler.
The family who received the above warning notice are still without hot water and gas central heating. This family has children and have been waiting three months for the issue to be rectified.
We have seen up to 70 LGSRs which are technically incorrect and issued across all four districts of Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone & Hythe and Thanet.
Also, the warning notice of the unsafe boiler, Gas Call Services Engineer has put EKH as the landlord. EKH is not the landlord, one of the four Councils is. As such it is not compliant.
All four Councils are failing to comply with significant pieces of legislation that they are required to adhere to and which could result in a financial penalty or prosecution.
We have taken the liberty to report all the LGSR’s we have seen to the Regulator of Social Housing. We hope the Councils will self-report again for failing to ensure their LGSR’s are compliant with the law. We also hope they will openly and publicly apologise for this second fiasco to all tenants affected.
This time round there is no blaming Deborah Upton as she has gone. The persons responsible are:
Vivien Knibbs – Chief Executive of EKH
Colin Carmichael – Chief Exec Canterbury City Council
Nadeem Aziz – Chief Exec Dover District Council
Dr Susan Priest Head of Paid Service Folkestone & Hythe District Council
Madeline Homer – Chief Exec of Thanet District Council
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
None of the Chief Exec’s – who are all paid in excess of £115,000 can oversee their contractor to do the job properly. Yet the Councils continue to pay Gas Call Services and have paid them in excess of £100,000 plus to date according to publicly available data.
It would appear that those in charge do not seem to learn from past mistakes and as such, they should all step down and be replaced with competent people who can and do know how to do the job and spend other people’s money wisely.
My problem is not large but I agree Gas Call are bloody useless.
I asked them to replace an obsolete room thermostat in my flat 2 months ago.
Nothing done despite me sending them a follow up email
I am a Folkestone & Hythe District Council House Tenant. My boiler has not been working for seven weeks. I was told by Gas Call I need a new part for the boiler installed by P & R in 2017. I call them up to remind them and they say call the Council. I call the Council who say call EKH. I call EKH who say call Gas Call. Around and around I go. Meanwhile I remain without any heating or hot water and my electricity bill has risen. They are sodding useless.
I contacted my Labour District Cllr a week after the boiler went down in early Jan setting out the problem. I have yet to receive an acknowledgement. Aren’t they supposed to help?
Not only are the Chief Executives clearly at fault you should also be calling out the names of the local Councillors who are not fighting to rectify this mess.
I would also urge tenants/leaseholders to contact their local MP. I would advise Shepway Vox to publish the dates/times of MPs’/Councillors surgeries to ramp up the pressure.
I’m rather lucky to have moved away from the EKH as I to had similar problems with boiler and heating issues when with EKH I’m with Riverside housing and gas is being done next week one year ago almost to the day since the last check I can’t fault Riverside at all. Thanet has one major problem that is Madeline Horner better known as Madam Horror she needs to be removed from her post but to many I frightened of her. Big Chris
As someone who knows, the old EKH board actually wrote to the chief execs to flag that this was likely to happen, and call on them to rethink awarding the contract to gas call…the chief execs utterly ignored the warnings, and stated that the board didn’t know what it was talking about and gas call would be fine – it was in letter form, so you should be able to FOI it…if the powers that be let you.
So while everyone went after the old board, it really wasn’t them to blame.
Disgusting that the chief execs just brushed it all under the carpet – and continue to get away with it – because they wanted to add a bit more to their responsibilities (and thus, I expect pay packets).
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Discover more from ShepwayVox Dissent is not a Crime
Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.
My problem is not large but I agree Gas Call are bloody useless.
I asked them to replace an obsolete room thermostat in my flat 2 months ago.
Nothing done despite me sending them a follow up email
My boiler has been condemned by Gas Call Services after it was installed by Swale in Oct. Also the LGSR says EKH as the Landlord as well
I am a Folkestone & Hythe District Council House Tenant. My boiler has not been working for seven weeks. I was told by Gas Call I need a new part for the boiler installed by P & R in 2017. I call them up to remind them and they say call the Council. I call the Council who say call EKH. I call EKH who say call Gas Call. Around and around I go. Meanwhile I remain without any heating or hot water and my electricity bill has risen. They are sodding useless.
I contacted my Labour District Cllr a week after the boiler went down in early Jan setting out the problem. I have yet to receive an acknowledgement. Aren’t they supposed to help?
Not only are the Chief Executives clearly at fault you should also be calling out the names of the local Councillors who are not fighting to rectify this mess.
I would also urge tenants/leaseholders to contact their local MP. I would advise Shepway Vox to publish the dates/times of MPs’/Councillors surgeries to ramp up the pressure.
Keep up the good work.
I’m rather lucky to have moved away from the EKH as I to had similar problems with boiler and heating issues when with EKH I’m with Riverside housing and gas is being done next week one year ago almost to the day since the last check I can’t fault Riverside at all. Thanet has one major problem that is Madeline Horner better known as Madam Horror she needs to be removed from her post but to many I frightened of her. Big Chris
As someone who knows, the old EKH board actually wrote to the chief execs to flag that this was likely to happen, and call on them to rethink awarding the contract to gas call…the chief execs utterly ignored the warnings, and stated that the board didn’t know what it was talking about and gas call would be fine – it was in letter form, so you should be able to FOI it…if the powers that be let you.
So while everyone went after the old board, it really wasn’t them to blame.
Disgusting that the chief execs just brushed it all under the carpet – and continue to get away with it – because they wanted to add a bit more to their responsibilities (and thus, I expect pay packets).