FIFE Council have said sorry to an angry tenant after a faulty sprinkler system kept going off in her home, including the middle of the night.

The resident, who has not been named and lives in the Cowdenbeath area, said the water would spray their belongings “at random times” and that workers supposed to fix the problem had not turned up.

They also claimed they were told that if they weren’t in when the workers called “they would break down the door”.

The complaint, which was upheld by the council, said: “I moved into this property and have had nothing but issues with this sprinkler system. I had reported that it was going off at random times, including the middle of the night, which has had a huge impact on myself and my son with sleep etc.

“I feel the way I have been treated by the council has not been very professional. After many workmen and managers being out at the property and having to take time off work, including being told if I’m not going to be in they would break down the door and I would have to pay for new locks, which is a bit low as my neighbour has a key, I have waited in on numerous occasions and no-one turns up.”

A report to the Cowdenbeath area committee said the complaint was upheld and an apology offered “given that a setting was not correct on the system”.

It was one of 249 complaints received by the council relating to the Cowdenbeath area between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019.

All but nine were closed, the remainder were still open, withdrawn or pending an allocation decision, and the average time taken was 5.6 working days.

The highest number in the Cowdenbeath area, 54, were about the council’s building services, with a failure to fix first time, failure to attend at time agreed, standard of workmanship and inappropriate behaviour / attitude of staff the main gripes.

The council also said sorry to a resident who said that, when workmen unblocked the drain at her home, they didn’t replace the concrete slab on top of it correctly and it was left sticking up.

She said “her window cleaner fell over it” and wished to make a complaint, which was upheld, as “she had already contacted the council about this but nothing was done”.

The report to the committee added that they had offered an apology and “trades were reminded of expectations in terms of workmanship”.

Councillors were told there were 49 complaints about the environment, with 25 of them relating to bins. One that was included in the committee report, and upheld, concerned a resident who said her blue bin, which was used for medical waste, was not being collected and wanted to know “why this appears to happen on a regular basis”.

There were 46 complaints about housing and 25 to do with the revenue and shared services, with half of them relating to a lack of or incorrect information.

There were 22 gripes about the contact centre, most about the time taken to answer the call, and seven for the children and families service.

There were also seven complaints about bereavement services, with most relating to untidy and overgrown areas of cemeteries and damage or vandalism to headstones, seven concerning transportation issues, six about education and five about parks, streets and open spaces.