Emergency Out of Hours Repairs

Contents:

• Out of Hours Contact Details
• Charges for Call Outs
• Types of Emergency

Out of Hours Contact Details

Emergencies Outside of Normal Working hours (5.00pm - 8.00am Monday - Thursday, 4.30pm - 8.00am Friday)

If you smell gas please contact the National Grid directly on 0800 111 999.

Please only use this service for real emergencies, you can contact us using the Housing Emergency Repairs telephone number.  If the system is abused, you may put another person's health or welfare at risk. We will get someone to you as quickly as practicably possible to ensure your home is made safe. However, sometimes it may not be possible to complete the full repair and a temporary or make safe repair will be completed.

You can contact the Out of Hours Repair Service on 0115 917 7777 - Option 2.

You will then be connected to the control room, where your call will be answered by a member of staff.

Your query will be dealt with as quickly as possible and we expect you to speak in a polite manner. Please remain patient and respect the decision of the member of staff as not all calls are deemed as emergencies

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Charges for Call Outs

If the repairs are necessary because of your actions or neglect, you will be charged for this visit. Blocked waste pipes, no power due to a faulty appliance, water leaks due to overflowing bath and/or washbasins/sinks, lost keys are all examples of out of hours calls where you may be charged.

If the Council attends to a report of no power or a partial loss of power and identifies the cause to be a defective appliance, power cut, no credit on the meter or a defective meter, this could cost as much as £100.00

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Types of Emergency

• Gas Leaks - phone NATIONAL GRID directly on 0800 111 999

• Total or partial loss of gas supply

• Total loss of hot water where no other facility or hot water exists*

• Total loss of heating - between dates 1^st October to 31^st March (Winter) - where no other facility for heating exists*

• Blocked flue to heating appliance

• Total loss of drinking water (this is likely to be a water supply problem)

• Blocked or leaking drain or sewer (this may be Severn Trent Water's full responsibility if the property was built prior to 1936)

• Blocked toilet - but only if there is no other working toilet for your home

• Tap which cannot be turned off (you may be asked to turn the stop tap or gate valve off)

• Severe leaking water or heating pipe, tank, cistern or toilet

• Overflow running full bore (you maybe asked to turn stop tap off)

• Make safe insecure window, external door or external lock

• Dangerous structures such as unsafe chimney stacks or roofs

• Dangerous electrical wiring, sockets or switches

• Repairs causing serious danger to the security of the home

• Loss of power (this may be an electric supply problem)

* Note: If you have a gas/electric fire, shower or immersion heater these are seen to be alternative facilities.

Emergency out of hours calls are expensive and any deliberate abuse of the system will result in you receiving a charge for the call.

You may be asked to help resolve or make safe an emergency yourself, such as turning off the water supply and it is therefore always useful to know the location of certain essential items. For more help, check out our Dealing with an Emergency webpage.

Remember:
Other members of your household may not be aware of the location of this equipment and so it is essential that all adults in the family are familiar with its location.

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Repairs Handbook

Full details of the Council’s Repairs service, including details of specific Repairs issues such as gas and electricity safety, heating and condensation issues and defining boundaries and responsibilities, can be found in our Repairs Handbook (PDF) (1.37 MB.) (Opens in a New Window) .

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