A WOMAN from Kinmel Bay has spoken of her relief at having her door fixed and promised to be replaced having long feared being burgled due to her inability to shut it.

Charlene Smith, a tenant of registered social landlord Cartrefi Conwy for roughly six years, had been in dispute with the organisation for several months regarding the issues and worries her faulty door had caused her.

Charlene, who lives with her disabled son and daughter, also underwent surgery just before Christmas, and added the pain of having to lift the door herself was also proving to the detriment of her own physical health.

Earlier this week, Charlene told the Journal: “The problem with it dropping has been going on for a few months, but I’ve had trouble with it for years.

“There’s been water leaking through it for a couple of years, and the top hinge broke and had been hanging off for a couple of months, so you have to lift it up to close it.

“I can’t lock the door, and there are a lot of burglaries going around this type of area. You don’t know who could walk in through the door at night.

“I had to leave my door unlocked while I went to stay in Anglesey with my family for a bit of help for the first week after surgery.

“I had to change carpet twice; I put laminate flooring down and it (water leaking through the door) wrecked it. Now, I’ve got lino flooring, so that it’s easy to just wipe it up when the water comes through.

“I’ve got a neurological issue and a problem with my spine. It’s causing me a lot of pain when lifting it, and I’m waiting to go in for another operation soon on my neck, because I have weakness in my left arm due to the discs in my neck catching the spinal cord and the nerve.”

Cartrefi Conwy confirmed today (January 20) that a joiner had made adjustments to the door, as well as a new door ordered for Charlene.

A Cartrefi Conwy spokesperson said: “The health and safety of our tenants is really important to us, and we have been in touch with Charlene to apologise for this ongoing issue and assure her the repair of the door is being treated as a priority.

“A joiner in our maintenance team visited this morning to make some adjustments to the door, which is now in working order.

“However, we have ordered a new door which will be installed as quickly as possible. We will continue to monitor the issue and keep in touch with Charlene.”

Charlene said she was pleased to reach a resolution to the issue, adding: “Just this morning, at about 10am, one person came and then not so long ago, another came to measure up for the new door.

“So, they changed the hinges on the door to make it shut, and they said if it falls again before we get the door, just to ring them back, because they said it could take about two months to come.

“Why they couldn’t have done it in the first place, I don’t know.”