FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS, Leanord Allsopp and his family have been patiently waiting for the Barbados Light & Power Company (BL&P) to replace all their electrical appliances, which they said were damaged by the company.
Allsopp thought it would have been an easy fix, but now almost two years have passed he is disappointed that BL&P never bothered to even visit his home to assess the damage and instead have seemingly dismissed his claim for compensation.
That patience has now turned to outright anger.
Allsopp, an amputee who resides at Grassfield Road, St Michael, vividly recalls the day when the damage occurred.
“A utility truck from Light & Power was driving through my gap. The truck pop down the electrical wire which was attached to my house and when it did that there was a very loud explosion and the house went completely in darkness, he recalled.”
The driver of the truck apparently did not realize he had pulled down the wire and just continued driving, so Allsopp sent his grandson to inform him of the damage.
“They were working in the gap behind me, so I sent my grandson to tell the driver that he had pulled down the wire.”
He said the driver returned shortly after and told him BL&P would repair the damaged wire but any other damage that was done internally would have to be reported to the company.
Allsopp said he also showed the driver a board attached to his house which was also pulled down with the wire. “He told me that Light & Power would have to send a carpenter to replace the board.”
The man said when he and his family checked the electrical appliances in their home the majority of those that were plugged in when the explosion occurred were not working.
“When we inspected the electrical items nothing was working. The two televisions were only blinking. The DVD player was finish with, the fan was not spinning and the refrigerator’s light was blinking,” said Allsopp.
“I called Light & Power and told them what had happened, and they said they would send someone the next day to fix the wire and to inspect the damage and they would follow up the matter.”
While a repair crew turned up the next day as promised, Allsopp said no one ever came to assess the damage to the electrical items, and the board that was pulled down is still lying in his patio up to this day.
“They sent us a letter stating that the matter would be referred to their attorneys. I took the letter to my lawyer and he said to me not to worry, that Light & Power had good intentions and I would be compensated.
“The months passed and when I spoke to my attorney again he told me that they [BL&P] wanted photos of the electrical items, so I sent the pictures.”
But three months ago after complaining to his attorney for the umpteenth time about the lengthy delay in the matter, Allsopp said his attorney finally informed him that officials at BL&P had indicated that the appliances “looked old”.
“I got very annoyed. Every month I have to pay Light & Power. I cannot tell them that I can’t pay them, so regardless of how my equipment looked they were giving me service,” he cried.
He has kept all of the damaged equipment, including the refrigerator, which he said does not keep a cold temperature.
“We had to beg neighbours to put items on their fridge for us because the fridge would only keep things cold for few hours. My wife has been saving up money to buy a new one because we can’t be asking people to keep things for us all the time.”
He admitted that he felt completely gullible for believing that the utility company would have compensated him for the damage.
“I feel terrible that my lawyer gave me the confidence that everything would be all right. I don’t want any money from them; all I want is the equipment replaced so that my family can be comfortable,” he said.
When contacted, corporate communications coordinator at BL&P, Jackie Marshall-Clarke, said: “On January 9, 2011, an incident occurred at Grassfield Gap, Martindales Road, and a report was made to the BL&P and a claim for damages was submitted and it is being dealt with by attorneys for the company.”
