Doormat madness
Council impounds ‘risky’ mat – and charges couple £20 a week
A COUPLE had their doormat seized and held to ransom by council workers carrying out safety checks.
Officials whisked off the mat, which had been a housewarming gift, and said they were holding it in a ‘secure location’.
Brighton and Hove City Council told Luke Dolman and his wife Mairead that the A3-sized mat would be destroyed if they do not collect it by October 26.
In the meantime, the homeowners would be charged £20 per week for its storage, the council’s letter added.
The mat, which reads ‘Home is where the Dolmans are’, was a gift from Mr Dolman’s sister to celebrate the couple buying their first flat together in East Hove, East Sussex, last year.
The couple have to abide by council rules because it owns the freehold of the block. Mr Dolman, 29, said: ‘We got home and the mat was gone.
‘When I spoke to the council they said it was an obstruction and it had to be removed. I don’t understand how it could be. It’s frustrating because I now have to pay £20 … it was given to us as a gift.
‘It was a big thing for me and my wife moving into our home. We were first-time buyers and we’d had to move back into my parents’ house so that we could save for the deposit.
‘This is our first home together and the doormat holds sentimental value to us so I want to get it back.’ The council said it has issued warnings about leaving objects in the communal hallways of council flat blocks, but Mr Dolman said he did not think this would apply to regular items such as doormats.
‘I thought it was because people were leaving their buggies and big objects in the hallways, not doormats,’ he added. The council has since defended seizing the mat by claiming it was taken during ‘additional safety checks’ following the Grenfell Tower inferno. A letter from the council’s head of housing, Tracy John, informed the couple: ‘The property specified here, doormat, has been found at the premises and are placed [ sic] into storage at a secure location.
‘You will be charged £20 per week for storage to Brighton & Hove City Council in respect of the cost of making enquiries, serving this notice and looking after the property adequately.
‘If not collected within 28 days, it will be disposed of.’
The city council said it had seized the doormat using powers listed under Section 41 of the Local Government Act.
A spokesman for the local authority said: ‘The safety of residents in council flats is a priority. We have given repeated notices to residents about keeping corridors and other communal areas clear as a fire safety measure, and asked people to remove any items which could pose a potential fire risk, obstruction or trip risk in an emergency evacuation, such as mats, bikes or pushchairs.
‘Following the Grenfell fire, additional safety checks were carried out on all council blocks of flats, and residents were advised that we would be removing any items left in communal areas, if they did not remove them themselves.’
‘Stored at a secure location’