'Help get us out of this hell'
Councillor John Divers
A MORAY couple are demanding a move from their brand new council house after describing the "hell" they are forced to endure on a daily basis.
New houses on Elgin’s Hossack Drive were hailed as being the first council properties in the town for 20 years, when residents were handed their keys two months ago.
But for the man and woman, who did not wish to be named for fear of reprisals, problem neighbours have made the experience of living on the street one of daily misery.
"Welcome to Beirut. I was speaking to somebody and she said Afghanistan has nothing on you," said the woman (37). "The first week we were here it was hell, and it has been like that ever since.
"We can’t go on like this. It is ridiculous they (the council) placed us in a situation between idiots like that. They have no regard for anyone else. When we first got the keys we were beside ourselves, but then we met the neighbours."
The main problems, according to the woman, have been with a young man living above their one-bedroom flat, and his visitors.
However, she said there have been further issues with one of their immediate neighbours, who has since moved, and also with a small number of residents further down the street.
The woman said groups of youths regularly visit the man.
As well as the noise, she said the couple are regularly subjected to "tirades of abuse". On another occasion, she confronted the man after a used sanitary towel was thrown out of his window and onto the garden below.
Elgin City South councillor John Divers went to see the couple earlier this week. What he saw first-hand, confirmed everything they had previously told him, he said.
"Everything we have been hearing has been reinforced by visiting the household. Everything we have been told I saw, whether it was people visiting his house with carry outs, to him walking along the road with drug paraphernalia, should we say."
For the full story, see this week's edition of 'The Northern Scot'.
