Burnbank teenage girl is hurt in ceiling collapse

Jul 2 2009 by Chris Clements, Hamilton Advertiser

A TEENAGE girl was taken away by ambulance after apparently being struck on the head by falling debris in a Burnbank bathroom.

The 14-year-old was said to have screamed in agony at the Milton Street home on Thursday as the ceiling above her crumbled due to water damage from the flat above.

Mary More (38), the tenant at the ground floor council flat, claims she had reported the damage the previous evening to South Lanarkshire Council.

She told the Advertiser that she was still waiting for the damage to be repaired when more rubble fell from the hole above the bath on to her partner Thomas Shanks’s grand-daughter’s head.

Yesterday (Wednesday) Mary told the Advertiser that her bathroom has yet to be repaired by the council.

She said: “It is driving me mad. I haven’t been off the phone to them over the past week. They sent out an inspector last week to look at the hole in the ceiling, but I expected a joiner to come out right away.

“In the meantime I can’t get a shower or a bath. There is rubble everywhere, and I’m scared to go back into the bath in case I get struck on the head like Thomas’s grand-daughter.”

Mary also claims that she was struck on the foot by a falling piece of wood, and had to make a trip to the hospital to check whether her foot was broken as a result.

She added: “The doctor said it is hard to tell at the moment, because the swelling is so bad. I’ll find out later.”

Mary has lived at the property for three years and says that the problems have been persistent with water leakage over that time.

Last year the council repaired similar damage to the ceiling after a water overflow in the flat upstairs. Mary said: “They even laughed and joked then, saying that nothing bad like that would happen again... and now look at it.

“If there was a small child in this flat, you can imagine the injury it would cause.”

Her partner Thomas (62) told the Advertiser about his grand-daughter’s shock at being struck by the debris. He said: “We thought it was worse than it was when the rubble hit her. We all panicked and she was crying out and holding her head.

“The ambulance came, but thankfully there was no injury and she was okay. She did get a fright.”

A South Lanarkshire Council spokesperson said: “On Monday, June 29, the customer contacted the council’s repairs centre. We tried to carry out the repair the same day, however, when we arrived at the house we could not get access.

“We have had no further contact from Miss More until this morning and the repair has been arranged for this afternoon.”