00:00My name's Derek Lee and I'm from Staplesford, Nottingham.
00:04I came home from shopping on Monday, obviously because the wife's just had a full hip operation so I've got to do everything.
00:12And she said that you've just received the letter from Broxdale Borough Council.
00:17The letter quite clearly stated that owing to fire regulations, everything on my balcony had got to be removed by Wednesday.
00:28Everything had to be moved. We tried getting in touch with Broxdale Borough Council on the Monday all afternoon and Tuesday morning and we got nowhere.
00:38So we've contacted a local councillor, Danny McRae, and he emailed Broxdale Borough Council.
00:45Three separate people, none of whom replied. So we've got no phone calls, no letters, no nothing.
00:54On the Wednesday, by the deadline day, I got the first phone call at 10 past 10 in the morning.
01:01The last paragraph, or second to last paragraph, quite clearly stated if I did not comply with these regulations,
01:08they was going to send a team in to remove everything off the balcony and further action will be taken.
01:15Both me and my wife asked, is every balcony getting these letters? And she did say yes.
01:22And as far as we know, in fact, I do know, up until yesterday, because I went round and asked the same people again if they'd received these letters, and they haven't.
01:34We both feel gutted. We've lived here for 37 years. The flowers have been on the balcony for over 20. We've had people even comment about how gorgeous our balcony looks.
01:47And for that Broxdale Borough Council to do this, I mean, this is the remains of some of them, because obviously I couldn't save everything.
01:55I nearly killed myself on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, getting rid of all this, because of the threat.
02:03We've damaged, the loveseats got damaged, the planters have fell apart. It's heartbreaking. It really is heartbreaking.
02:12On a regular basis, we used to sit outside having a drink, a cup of tea or a cup of coffee.
02:18The grandchildren, when they came, we've got four grandchildren, they used to help us tend the flowers, watered them.
02:26My grandson, the youngest grandson, he's five, even this year has been watered the plants and he's helped me do the cuttings during the summer.
02:37So we won't be doing that anymore. Well, I don't think I'm going to get them back.
02:42After what Broxdale Borough Council has done, I don't even think I just want to dare putting anything on that balcony again.
02:51The letter is absolutely disgusting. The one paragraph in it is absolutely disgusting.
02:59I want answers. I want to know why Broxdale Borough Council have done what they've done.
03:05Because I don't believe for one minute that it's a fire regulation.
03:09They meant an awful lot to us. It gave my husband something to do, to go out and it was lovely.
03:15And when we went out anywhere, we'd find, if we could find an unusual plant, we'd bring it back.
03:20And it was just like, well, it's like a baby to us. It was something to do. We enjoyed it.
03:25Absolutely gutted. Just felt like our world had just been pulled from beneath us, you know,
03:31to say we've got two days and we've got to get rid of all the 20 odd years.
03:36And it's all had to go into the bin and be thrown away. So we're absolutely gutted.
03:41Well, I don't know whether we want plants back again now. It's really hurt us.
03:47So it's just, I want an apology for what they've done.
