By Cheryl Wood

A GUARDBRIDGE man has criticised Fife Council for leaving him without hot water for more than a week.

Alan Smart’s water tank burst last Tuesday, causing a bedroom ceiling at his home in Toll Road to collapse.

The council sent someone to investigate two days later, and Mr Smart (43) was told he would have to wait another week before a new tank was installed.

Mr Smart, who lives alone, accused the council of failing to treat his case as an emergency.

He said, “I’m left without any hot water and I still have to pay rent. Do you have to have a wife and lots of kids to get something like this fixed quickly?”

He also claimed that the tank must have been leaking for years, as water had seeped through the joists and insulation of his three-bedroom house.

His brother, Andrew, had been in house when the ceiling of the spare room caved in with a terrifying crash.

The brothers had been in process of decorating the room, and had recently laid a new carpet.

Mr Smart, a civilian worker at RAF Leuchars, said, “By chance my brother was in the other room, otherwise he would have ended up in hospital.”

Now he fears that the whole tank, which has left a gaping hole in the ceiling, may come crashing down.

Mr Smart has lived in the house since childhood, and took over the tenancy when his parents moved out 15 years ago.

Fife Council insisted it was dealing with the situation as quickly as possible.

St Andrews locality manager Kate Hughes said, “When this was reported we went out as soon as possible to make everything safe and get it cleaned up.

“Unfortunately this type of tank has to be specially made, and this was explained to Mr Smart. He was told it will be ready this Wednesday and we will put it in on Thursday, as soon as it is ready.

“My colleagues in building services gave Mr Smart a courtesy call last week to confirm this, and we believed he was quite happy with that. We apologised for the delay.”

She said there had been no suggestion the tank had been leaking for some time, but added, “We will investigate and anything that needs repaired or replaced will be done.”

She added, “We don’t want people having to put up with situations that they don’t have to and we make a point of keeping tenants informed. Every tenant is dealt with equal urgency.”