Grandmother, 97, has all her belongings thrown away by mistake
She lost family photos, letters, jewelry and war medals, among other treasured possessions.
A 97-year-old grandmother lost a lifetime of belongings after contractors mistakenly thought she had died and threw them away.
The contractors were sent to remove damaged furniture from Mabel Ogle’s home, after the property flooded while she was staying in respite care.
But instead, they cleared out virtually everything and took it to landfill.
This included sentimental items such as wedding photos, family albums, letters, jewelry and war medals.
Insurers Royal Sun Alliance apologised and paid Mabel £2,500 compensation for the distress caused. But her granddaughter Karen Henshaw, 51, said the firm’s response and that of the contractor don’t reflect the seriousness of what happened.
She said: ‘It’s 97 years of possessions, how can you replace them?
‘She is a proud lady, she had many things. It’s disgusting, I don’t think it’s been dealt with properly. I want a proper written apology from the company [the contractor] that’s done this.
‘There will be possessions that I hadn’t known about, there were private things like love letters.
‘I don’t think she’s been properly compensated. They said they can’t put a value on items of sentimental significance.’
Widower Mabel, who lives in a two bedroom bungalow on the Isle of Wight and has carer visits six times a day, suffered a fall at her home and was taken into respite care to recover.
While she was there, her toilet cistern flooded, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Her insurance company used a local property management company to asses the damage.
It was decided any salvageable furniture and other belongings would be placed in the living room and everything that had to be disposed of should be put into the rear bedroom of the house.
But the team the property management company hired to dispose of the damaged items cleared everything from both the rear bedroom and the living room.
Karen, a bank clerk from Oldham, Greater Manchester, said: ‘She’s lost jewellery, war medals, christening gowns, just a lifetime of memories.
‘The carer went round because a neighbour had seen the vans pull up at the house.
‘Me and Neil had to go down and we spoke to the guy and he said, “I’m sorry, there’s been a miscommunication”. They said they’d been told she’s passed away.
‘Since that meeting I have never had a formal apology from [the property services company], no letter, nothing and they are the ones that made the tragic error.
‘We have only had an email admitting liability. I believe the compensation is too low.
‘RSA have paid out for the water damage and most of the contents but not for their negligence.’
Mabel has since returned to her house in Freshwater, where she has lived for the last 40 years, but Karen has not told her what has happened.
She added: ‘I haven’t had the heart to tell her what’s happened. She’s 97 and she can barely see, she’s bed-ridden.
‘But she knows something is wrong because she’s in the living room, she has no furniture anywhere else.’
A spokesman for insurance company Royal Sun Alliance said: ‘We are sincerely sorry for the upset caused to Mrs Ogle and her granddaughter Mrs Henshaw when some of Mrs Ogle’s belongings were incorrectly disposed of during the handling of the water damage to her home.
‘Following a thorough review of this incident we previously offered our apologies for the mistakes that were made and while it is impossible to place a value on some of the more sentimental items that were lost we have paid compensation to reflect the undoubted distress that these mistakes caused.
‘Mrs Henshaw subsequently referred the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service as she was unhappy with the level of compensation and it has concluded that our handling of the complaint and compensation payment was reasonable.’
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