A woman has hit out after facing an ‘awful’ ordeal while work to her bathroom left her having to go to the toilet at a pub across the road from her home.

Dianne Ruddy, of Regent Court, Gateshead, said she faced a nightmare after workers from Gateshead Council took days to replace her bathroom suite and left her without a toilet until 10.30pm on the first day of the programme of work, only for it to be removed again as it was leaking.

Council flat tenant Dianne was left angered after initially being told it would be a four-day job but after five days of work, she says it was still not completed. Her toilet and sink had been replaced but she says further work is needed to unblock a drain following problems caused due to plastering work.

Dianne, 55,  said that after returning home from work after the first day of the work, she found she had been left without a toilet and was forced to contact an out of house team to come to her home and fit her toilet so she was not left without a loo until the next day.  She said: “I had to go to the pub opposite the flats, but I was afraid someone would knock on then door as it is for customers only.”

Dianne, who is a hospitality worker at Newcastle United’s St James’ Park ground, has branded the repairs as a “total inconvenience” and added: “It has been absolutely awful.”

Dianne was told by the local authority at Christmas last year her bathroom was scheduled to be re-fitted in January. A repair team arrived on January 29, 2024, at 8am to begin work and rip out her toilet, which Dianne was told would be replaced by 4pm.

However, when Dianne returned home the toilet was gone and had not been replaced, much to the frustration of her 85-year-old mother who has house-sitting. Dianne then had to ring an out-of-hours team to arrive, she had to use a toilet in the pub opposite her tower block.

Dianne said: “I rang up the out-of-hours service and said I need ‘I’ve got no toilet, so I need someone to come out and fit it in’. I had to ring numerous amount of times.

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“By 10.30pm, that evening it was eventually fitted, but I was told it was leaking, but they would come back to fix it. I’m having terrible trouble, I work five days a week and I’ve asked the council to work around that, it’s a total inconvenience”.

On Tuesday, the toilet was taken out to allow for plastering work and put back at around 1pm but the leak continued. Dianne had to ring the council’s repairs team again and they returned at around 8.45pm to look at it again.

It was not until Wednesday, that the leak was fixed, while flooring work was underway at around 3pm. After five days, although she now has a working toliet and sink, she says further work is needed to unblock a drain from the shower.

When contacted about Ms Ruddy’s repairs, a Gateshead council spokesperson said: “We are aware of the issues and are working with the tenant to resolve them as soon as possible.”