An elderly woman is desperate to move out of her mouldy London council flat where she says she can only wash using a bucket.
Anastasia Sotiris has been living in Islington without basics including a fridge, cooker, washing machine and even a functioning front door.
The 87-year-old, who uses a Zimmer frame, says the taps in her bathroom sink are broken and the bath is too high up for her to use so she is forced to wash with a bucket.
The one-bedroom ground-floor flat is mould-ridden and the small back garden is completely overgrown.
Ms Sotiris also said she’s been living without a working front door after youths tried to break in while she was in hospital and smashed a pane of glass.
Ms Sotiris, who has lived in north London for 60 years, told MyLondon: ‘I don’t want to be here anymore, it’s very bad and nobody is listening.
‘Please try to move me. Please.’
A local charity learnt of the conditions in her flat and provided her with a fridge, microwave and tabletop hob.
The Pilion Trust chief executive Savvas Panas ‘raised the safeguarding alert straight away’ and said the council must do more to support vulnerable tenants like the pensioner.
She said: ‘In that block of flats it’s been complaint after complaint and nothing’s been done. The whole protocol around her is really appalling.’
Mr Sotiris has no remaining family, but her neighbour, who only gave her name as Ms Begum, has been supporting her with food deliveries and clothes.
She said: ‘I would have got help for her sooner if I’d known. I’m sure there’s more people living like this.
‘I can’t believe the council is leaving a woman living like this – a vulnerable lady on her own, no family, no nothing. No help.’
Ms Sotiris and her neighbours said they have made multiple complaints to the council.
The authority provided her walking frame and a perching stool but beyond this she said nothing substantial has been done to improve her living situation.
Islington Council has been approached for comment.
MORE : ‘They don’t care’: The families stuck in mould-infested council homes for years
MORE : Disabled NHS worker likens life to ‘horror movie’ in home covered with black mould
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