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A Hull man says that he is on the “brink of suicide” after not receiving his post.
The man, who wants to remain anonymous, says that he has no working letterbox, so his mail is not delivered to him or distributed to him by staff working at Sanctuary Housing, who manage his supported accommodation in Westbourne Avenue, west Hull.
He says he has been issued with a court summons for not his paying bills as a result.
He also raised complaints that people walk around self-harming in his block and that blood is “left for weeks” on door handles as a result.
The man also claims drug dealing goes on and that drugs have been found in the oven and down the back of radiators, and that a hole in the roof has not been fixed.
(Image: Peter Harbour)
He says that rats have been seen outside the property.
“My mum died in 2012 and ever since then I’ve been without a home and started sleeping on my mother’s grave and had a complete breakdown,” he said.
“I wanted to commit suicide and got in touch with MIND and got referred to Citizen’s Advice, who organised for me to have a flat in Westbourne Avenue next to the hostel, where I’ve been staying for around a year.
“But for the time I’ve been there, there has been no postbox, so I have been missing getting my post.
“I missed birthday cards, Christmas cards and now I’m being taken to court for unpaid bills as I never received the letters until too late – I found a load of post mounted up on a pile in the Sanctuary staff room where they had been kept, with staff not bothering to distribute them.
“It’s made me so depressed and suicidal, especially when I have been missing parcels of stuff I’ve been ordering for myself to try and make me feel better for my mental health.”
As well as having issues with the postal situation, the man has slammed the “filthy” state of the flat block that he lives in.
“My flat is filthy and, when I moved in, the carpet was soaked with rabbit urine and I found droppings on the floor and holes in it as well,” he said.
“The boiler, oven and washing machine do not work and there was even drugs found hidden in one of the ovens and drug equipment in one of the rooms.
“Doors get slammed in the night so I can’t get a decent night’s sleep either.
“The roof had been leaking, but instead of it getting fixed, we got told to mop up the mess ourselves so I got on my hands and knees to clean it up – only to later find it was sewage I had been touching – it was disgusting.
“The bins are also overflowing and there are rats running about, who have even eaten through the bins.
“It’s just no way to live and something needs to be done”.
What the housing authority say
A spokesperson for Sanctuary Housing said: “At [the man’s] request, earlier this year the Royal Mail started posting his letters through the letterbox in his front door rather than delivering them to the office in the building to be passed on. If he feels the post is not arriving, we would advise him to speak to the Royal Mail about it.
“Collecting the bins is the responsibility of the local authority and while we are not aware of any problems with collections, we will be checking to ensure the bins are being emptied when they should be.”
