by A £500,000 fire guard has been accused by residents of ‘hiding’ in a cupboard while on duty after he was brought in to protect a block of flats following the Grenfell tragedy.
A 24-hour “wake watch” was deployed to patrol Latitude 52, a seven-storey block of flats in Plymouth in 2021 after an inspection by Devon and Cornwall Fire Service raised serious concerns with the building and threatened to close
The inspection found that the building had no smoke detection system, had “combustible” items blocking escape routes and had wooden clad stairs – which firefighters found apartment owners had left in “imminent and serious” danger.
There were two fire wardens on watch who were tasked with patrolling the property and raising the alarm in the event of a fire. Service charges levied on lessors have increased five-fold in the first year of the rise watch, rising from £1,600 to £8,000 between June 2021 and June 2022.
But despite paying through the nose, residents have declared that the alarm clock is “not fit for purpose”. A video shared with the Telegraph, taken in October 2021, shows a marshal standing behind two closed doors in a black cupboard on his phone while the other was said to be “buying food” outside the scene.
One resident accused the staff member of ‘hiding’ in the cupboard. Pro Sentry said service lapses at the time were dealt with by providing additional staff training and discussing possible “credits” to reimburse lessors.
Resident Andy Grant, 49, said: “As fire marshals, they are supposed to be significant and have a significant presence. And their presence wouldn’t be there if they were hiding in the cleaners’ cupboard.”
Ivan Ashford, a 61-year-old lessee in the building, said he and his neighbors had no choice but to hire a wake-up call. Now, he says some have fallen into arrears – unable to keep up with the jumps in payments – and are “scared” of future increases.
“If we don’t, the fire service and the council would have closed the building,” he explained. Plymouth City Council had issued emergency banning orders for flats on the upper levels of the building, meaning residents would have to move out unless changes were made.
The 24-hour patrol was in place until the summer of last year. Over the two years the building was under watch, flat owners paid a total of almost £900,000 in fire safety charges according to documents seen by the Telegraph. It is understood that the wake watch company, Pro Sentry, charged almost £500,000.
Plymouth Block Management, the managing agent who took over the block in the final months of 2021, is contesting the bill on behalf of the lessors. The Telegraph understands that £200,000 of the half a million pound bill has been withheld from the company as negotiations continue.
The watch was eventually removed after the managing agent connected the building’s fire alarm to a full-time monitoring company that automatically calls the fire service when alerted.
Mr Grant said he feels it was a “blind robbery”, and that the £500,000 charged was just “money down the drain”. He claims other leaseholders are experiencing health problems – partly, they say, as a result of the constant stress caused by rising service charges.
He said: “A lot of people have been reaching out because of their mental health.”
Lessors in the building began to complain about the quality of the clock soon after it was introduced in June 2021, as the costs of the scheme increased.
In minutes of a lessors’ association meeting recorded in August 2021, the watch was described as “not fit for purpose”. Allegedly, there have been several complaints over the past few months about the quality of the watch.
Some of the leaseholders are now taking matters into their own hands to see if a first-tier tribunal judge can help them get more money back.
Emails seen by the Telegraph show residents are facing a fire safety improvement charge on each of their bills of £4,958.50 from 2021-2022, and an additional charge of £2,898.02 from 2022-2023.
They had hoped to receive grant funding from the government to cover some of these costs, but solicitors told them that Latitude 52 was not a ‘relevant building’ under the Building Safety Act. This is because the freeholder has 12 leases in the building, although the majority are owned by other individuals.
A spokesperson for the Department for Upgrading, Housing and Communities said: “Building owners must ensure that buildings are safe. An alarm clock should only be used in the most exceptional circumstances and should be in place for as long as possible when setting an alarm.
“Government funding is available to install alarms to eliminate alarm clocks, and we encourage people to tune in where necessary.”
It is understood fire remediation work costing millions is still needed within Latitude 52 to bring the block up to current fire safety standards. Lessors are concerned that because they are not a ‘relevant building’, they could be left to pay this bill too.
This could result in a bill of as much as £26,000 each if the highest estimates of £3m for the works are accurate.
However, the owners of the flats have been given government funding to remove the external cladding – which is why the building is now covered in scaffolding.
A spokesman for Plymouth City Council confirmed that the building was inspected in May 2021 and that “serious and serious” fire safety risks were found.
A statement from watch company Vigilant said: “Pro Sentry is committed to providing the highest quality services and recognizes that the wake watch service is an evolving service.”
The statement also says that where deficiencies have been identified, a “fair and reasonable outcome” has been negotiated, including disciplinary action and possible credits.
The statement concludes: “We cannot comment specifically on Latitude 52 beyond this as there is an ongoing dispute over substantial outstanding payments.”
A spokesman for Plymouth Block Management said on the phone that they acknowledged the Telegraph’s email but did not want to comment – then hung up.
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