Fuming pensioner says council inspection of home was illegal (From Gazette)

Fuming pensioner says council inspection of home was illegal

9:00am Saturday 14th November 2009

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A PENSIONER has claimed a council official gained “illegal entry” into his home.

Patrick Sullivan, 70, of Ivor Brown Court, High Woods, Colchester, said he was left feeling “raped in his own home” after a visit by an enforcement officer from Colchester Borough Homes.

A local government ombudsman is investigating the incident.

Mr Sullivan said: “The female officer knocked on my door and told me she was making an unannounced inspection.

“I had to show her around my home and she wanted to go in my bedroom to check if I had made any structural changes.

“I got upset because I felt like it was a complete invasion of my privacy, but she told me she had a right of entry.”

He added: “It is totally disgusting and I felt very overwhelmed by it all.

“I’m an old age pensioner at the end of the day and it really shook me up.”

Mr Sullivan said he later sought advice from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, who told him the visit was illegal.

Mr Sullivan, who has lived in the bungalow for five years, also said he thought it was “inappropriate” that it was a woman officer on her own who came to do the checks.

He said: “It was all very unexpected. We are the most vulnerable and poorest people in society and they used a sledge hammer to break a walnut.

“They have breached my human rights and really gone over the top on this one. I’m fuming.”

Nick White, from Colchester Borough Homes, said: “We will help the ombudsman with their investigation, but are not able to discuss the specific details of this case.”

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