Piggyback ride to feed meter
A Black Country couple's relationship with power and housing bosses is in the balance - because their electricity meter is too high up the wall.Cyril Blakemore says he has to give his wife Sylvia a piggy back so she can reach the meter at their West Bromwich home.
Now they say that the weekly ritual of feeding tokens into the high-fixed meter was getting beyond a joke - but that both npower and Sandwell Homes kept passing the buck and not shifting the box to a more convenient spot.
The couple have lived in their Lily Street home for more than 20 years, but Mrs Blakemore - who is less than 5ft tall in her stocking feet - said she was now taking her life in her hands by feeding the meter.
"I can still just about do it by myself if I climb up on the stairs, hang onto the bannister and stretch - but it just doesn't feel safe anymore," the 62-year-old said.
"But when we call npower they say we need to talk to Sandwell Homes, and when we call Sandwell Homes they say the opposite."
Mr Blakemore, aged 61, who also cannot reach the meter without climbing on the stairs or standing on a chair said it was only a matter of time before he or his wife got seriously injured.
He added that workmen refurbishing homes on the Tantany estate had recently added insult to injury by trying to add a special cupboard around the indoor meters.
"They wanted to make it even more difficult for us to put tokens in the meter," he said.
No-one from npower was available to respond to the Express & Star's requests for a statement on the Blakemore's case.
Sandwell Homes spokeswoman Jayne Maul said that officers were looking into the couple's problems, but it did not appear that they had any role in shifting the meter.
By Jim Dunton
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