Why gas range cooker owners are still reeling from effects of villages’ January mains burst
THE fall-out from January’s gas outages continues to be felt by residents of Ratby, which is in Hinckley and Bosworth, and Kirby Muxloe, with owners of gas range cookers saying they are being treated less fairly than fellow villagers with gas ovens and hobs.
Thousands of homes were left without gas when a water main burst. Hundreds of water-damaged boilers, gas hobs and ovens have been replaced by Severn Trent, with the full cost covered by the company.
For appliances such as range or Aga cookers, it is providing a minimum of 70 per cent of the cost of replacement and is suggesting customers go to their insurance companies to try and cover the rest.
A councillor has questioned why Severn Trent is expecting people to pay out for an incident for which it has admitted liability. Some villagers said they had not heard back from contractors after an initial assessment of their cookers several weeks ago.
Mum of five Kerry Harris, 47, from Ratby, bought her range cooker on finance for £799 last Christmas and is paying it off.
“They said I have moisture in my cooker and that I would need a new one”, she said. “It’s safe to use but after time the moisture will corrode it and I will be left with a gas cooker I won’t be able to use and I’ll still be paying it off.
“I have got five children and if I have not got a cooker I will be struggling. We cannot really cook in the microwave for five children.
“Severn Trent hasn’t been helpful at all throughout the problem we have had, when it was their water leak. It’s a bit of a worry.”
Another range cooker owner, Michelle Brown, 55, said representatives of Aspect, engineers working on behalf of Severn Trent, came over during the assessments and said they would replace her cooker like for like and even sourced one of the same colour and size.
Ms Brown, from Desford Lane in Ratby, said she had not heard from any of the involved companies since then and, according to what she has been reading on social media, her range cooker will not be replaced like for like.
She said: “I am on my own and I am at a loss. I find it incredibly unfair we have been cast aside. I feel incredibly let down.
“Have I got to go without and use the microwave? Most people I know have had theirs hobs and ovens replaced.
“I have sent an email asking them to tell me what is happening, but they have not been in touch with me. At the end of the day, none of this is my fault.
“I do not understand why I should be penalised. It’s not my doing.
“When they first came around they said it has been affected because the temperature has been going up and down. They said it will be replaced like for like at no cost to myself.
“My kitchen was fitted in and around my range. They said leave it with us and now all of a sudden they are not replacing them.
“I feel unimportant. We had intermittent water throughout and had roadworks where at points we couldn’t even get off our drive.
“But then we are not important enough to get it done. It is not my fault I have got a range, why am I disregarded?” Kevin Bush, 62, from Ratby, has a £1,500 range cooker which is now “scrap” after the mains burst.
The model is no longer made in the UK and the closest place from which it can be bought is Switzerland.
He said: “Eight weeks later, we still have no cooker. I am still waiting, two weeks after sending a complaint to Sedgwick (Severn Trent’s loss adjusters). I have gone out and bought an air fryer, which is more expense at my cost. We are being treated differently, unfairly in our view, to anyone who doesn’t have a range cooker.”
Mr Bush said that because Severn Trent had made an offer to contribute a minimum of 70 per cent towards the replacement, his insurance company, Arriva, won’t cover the rest.
He said: “I suspect that is going to be a similar scenario for other range cooker owners.”
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough councillor Chris Boothby, who represents Ratby ward, feels the situation is unfair.
He said: “There is still water in the system and people’s appliances are still being condemned. They admitted complete liability and complete responsibility and said they would replace all affected appliances.
“All I want is for Severn Trent to make good on their promises that nobody will be out of pocket. If people had a range cooker or an Aga, it’s leaving my elderly constituents out of pocket.
“I do not see why residents should be out of pocket for something Severn Trent did. I just find it unfair that they are being forced to pay for their repairs when it was not their fault.”