In 2022 You Could Not Make This UP - Left Dead For 28+ Months In Flat

some bloke down this way stopped on a stretch of motor way for a slash noticed a car down the bank it had been there a good while as

there was a skeleton sitting behind the wheel
 
perhaps one of the concerned neighbours should have gone around there for a look see

after all they had not seen the person for 2 years ?

perhaps they were not that concerned ? now when it hits the fan , they are probably embarrassed

so blame some one else , its there fault , to cover up the fact that they did not really give a stuff
 
now all the " concerned " neighbours can give interviews telling every one what a disgrace it is.

nowt to do with me I was a concerned neighbour :)
 
I know of two cases

both were chronic alcoholics

and had cut themselves off from neighbours, family and former friends (didn't welcome concern or offers of help or friendship)

one was observed by the windowcleaner

one was discovered by landlord after rent fell into arrears and letters unanswered.

neither was in London

Should somebody be responsible for checking on known heavy drinkers periodically? Who?
 
neighbours

that fritzel bloke in Austria had neighbours :)

same as that bloke in the states who kept all his children (7?) all chained up in his house on starvation diets

only came to light when one of his daughters escaped and called plod
 
Fred West lived in semi detached , he had neighbours , one neighbour did remark that when Fred asked him to give him a lift with a rolled up carpet he thought it was unusually heavy
 
Probably 20 years ago now that I worked in some flats in Radbourne road Balham where a floor had to be taken up as the old lady that had lived there had melted into it. Place stank to high heaven and yet it went unnoticed. Happens all to often to the elderly.
 
As some may be aware in the past I have worked for a London borough.

Though I was not in housing if one of my clients failed to open the door on a pre-arranged visit
and they were deemed frail to the info we had. I would make every effort
to recontact them, follow through with other contacts on file, including the alerts systems
we had. If I had met the client before and knew them well and they failed to keep an appointment,
I'd action my 'ensure all is well plan' ASAP EG contact nominated friend/family, dcotor and even
carefully look through a letterbox, windows, knock on neighbours doors etc etc.

A few years into my job at soc services a client fails to open the door to me. I knew they were pretty
good with keeping appts but i was also aware they were frail. We did not have mobiles those days.
I went to the phone box to call them no response. I knocked on neighbours doo one told me to basically p off
but thankfully I persevered and I went around the back of this neighbours house and jumped the fence
and looked through the window and my client had fallen in the kitchen and was on the floor.

TBH, I thought about not bothering as i was late for the next appointment but thankfully
my caring nature came to my aid along with my systematic common-sense risk evaluations
before the days they really took off. Any police and ambulance called, the door kicked in and my client was ok after a night in hospital.

What happened in the flat that is in the link I posted and the people that rent out the property, it is beyond belief that something like
this reported several times is ignored.

Sadly HA's, councils still have confusing procedures and risk assessments and I guess Covid did not help.

I still find it incredible that it took them this long, especially after the reports of the smell.

So, so sad and as people get older, often more and more people lose contact with family/friends or the family etc is no longer there.

Heads must roll and not just this organisation should learn from their mistake but other organisations must learn from this and also review their processes.
 
Probably 20 years ago now that I worked in some flats in Radbourne road Balham where a floor had to be taken up as the old lady that had lived there had melted into it. Place stank to high heaven and yet it went unnoticed. Happens all to often to the elderly.

I disagree that it happens as frequenstly as it did 10-15+ years ago.
With the advent of computers better sytems info sharing between housing and social services, you do get better outcomes.

When I left social services a few years ago they were leading the info sharing between departments
re who was a danger to staff, who was vulnerable and sharing info on alternative contacts. As in the past housing may have had alternative contacts and we did not and vice versa - all with the client's consent but there was a lot of red tape chatted about.
 
There was a report years ago about some youngish woman
(30’s) ?

who died in her flat and they never found her for a couple of years which

means her work colleagues never missed her

she never paid any bills
Leccy
Gas
Community charge
Rent

and no one missed her :confused:
 
Tragic, but will happen more and more. So many people die alone, nobody at funerals, nobody can be found for inheritance. With more people not having kids will see their more in the coming decades.
 
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