A SINGLE mother-of-three who is registered disabled has been left without a functioning stairlift in her house for more than two weeks.

Natasha Crocker, of Augusta Park, has cerebellar ataxia with oculomotor apraxia, a condition that affects co-ordination and balance which means she relies on the use of a stairlift to get upstairs in her home.

But after the machine failed on April 30, she has had no choice but to attempt to use her stairs, resulting in her falling repeatedly and bruising her legs.

“I’ve been falling up and down the stairs a bit,” she said.

“I can get up them, just about. I have to slide down on my bum otherwise that could be another accident.

“I’m now living in this property on my own with three young children so it’s not safe at all.”

Natasha’s friend, Chloe Slater, has been spending most of her days at Natasha’s house aiding her in getting around.

Explaining the routine, she said: “I go home at night-time, take my son to school in the morning then come back again, then go to work at lunchtime and then come back again.”

Natasha says she has been calling VIVID, her housing association, for two weeks asking to repair the lift.

Vivid Homes has since apologised for the delay, citing difficulties sourcing the appropriate parts.

Jonathan Cowie, chief operating officer at VIVID, said: “We’d like to apologise to the customer for the obvious and unfortunate inconvenience the delay in repairs to her stairlift.

“The customer reported a fault with her stairlift on April 30 and a specialist contractor visited to carry out a repair within 48 hours. Unfortunately, the nature of the fault and stairlift meant non-standard parts were needed from overseas.

“The customer was updated on Friday, May 10 and Monday, May 13 to confirm progress. The parts are anticipated to arrive and be fitted immediately by the contractor this Friday (today).”

But, Natasha says since she got in touch with the company, “no-one has been around to see it” other than an engineer who visited the property on Monday to carry out a routine service.

“The man that came around this morning (Monday) didn’t really know that the lift wasn’t working,” she said.

She added she has been told there is a chance the lift may not be installed until Monday morning.

“Someone rang me, this was yesterday (Wednesday) I think or the day before, and he said to me it will be Friday but if they can’t by Friday then it will be Monday.”