SHOCKING!
Family living in street hit by sinkhole reveal power cuts are causing misery for disabled daughter
A Sunderland family has been left furious after their electricity has cut out numerous times due to the subsidence affecting a nearby property.
Subsidence led to a semi-detached house on Broomshields Avenue, Sunderland, falling a foot into the ground in August.
Dozens of homes around the street have since been powered by a generator – but the electricity has repeatedly cut out in recent weeks.
On Monday, October 7, Northern Powergrid officers visited Broomshields Avenue to answer questions and reassure families that they do not expect any further “technical issues” for those living in the affected properties.
Ashleigh Murphy, 43, and her husband Chris Murphy, 42, live with their two daughters Frankie, 11, and Connie, 8 on the street.
In August, Ashleigh spoke to the Sunderland Echo about her issues of having no gas or water at her home, as her daughter Frankie suffers from chronic idiopathic constipation.
Now the loss of electricity has caused further trouble.
Ashleigh said: “I deeply feel bad for the people across the road who have lost their house, but the entire street and neighbouring streets have been hugely affected too.
“I’ve got a disabled daughter so I need electricity for the lights to do her treatment.
“It means putting a stoma tube into her stomach to do her flush-outs, but one night the electricity went off in the middle of doing her treatment which left us unable to see what we were doing.
“So we had to stop the treatment which had a knock on effect to the following day when she couldn’t go to school.
“I’ve logged a formal complaint to the Northern Power Grid and they gave us three flash-lights, but that doesn’t help when my other daughter is frightened of the dark.”
A Northern Powergrid spokesperson said: "We're making arrangements to have a replacement cable fitted along a new route; however, this will take some time as we need to arrange the necessary agreements with landowners, with discussions ongoing.”
"We would like to thank everyone affected by the recent issues and reassure them that we will do everything possible to replace the electricity cable as quickly as we can."