Beware of the doormat, Telford man warned

Housing chiefs have ordered a Telford man to get rid of a doormat outside his first-floor flat because it contravenes health and safety rules.

Jamie Turner says he has also been told that pictures, a basket of flowers and net curtains outside will have to go as well because they constitute a fire hazard.

Mr Turner, who lives in Wrekin Housing Trust sheltered accommodation in Hall Barn Close, Madeley, today branded the ruling ridiculous.

The 51-year-old said: "I put the mat down and the pictures and flowers up just to make the place look more homely.

"They said someone could trip over the mat and the curtains and pictures were a fire hazard.

"I have challenged them to put me face to face with a firefighter and let him tell me the pictures and the rest would cause him a problem.

"It is just ridiculous. I think they have just come up with a blanket policy but it makes me not want to live here."

Mr Turner is in sheltered accommodation after he was left in a coma and fighting for his life in 2006 when he was attacked by a gang of thugs as he walked to watch his beloved team Manchester United play away at Southampton in the final game of the season.

Removed

He was thought to have been hit with metal poles and he underwent life-saving surgery where part of his skull was removed.

He subsequently had his skull reconstructed and has had to learn how to walk and talk again.

Sandra Watkins, The Wrekin Housing Trust's supported housing team leader, said in a letter to Mr Turner that the pictures, artificial flowers, doormat and net curtain all had to be removed in the next fortnight. She said she would be visiting in two weeks time to check the communal area outside Mr Turner's flat was clear.

Pamela Edwards, the trust's general manager for supported housing, said: "We take the safety of our tenants very seriously and we have a responsibility to conduct fire risk assessments on our schemes.

"There is a requirement for us to risk assess all our schemes. We ask for combustible items to be removed from communal corridors as this is the only route for access to residents' homes.

"If there were to be a fire, then the presence of such items could cause risk to life."

By Simon Hardy