Sophie Murphy, 31, says she has been waiting since December 20 last year for her oven to be repaired in her council property after a fuse blew. Since then, she, her husband and two kids have had to get by using their microwave, AirFryer and camp fire hob.
And Sophie said they’ve largely been eating chips, chicken nuggets, pasta and takeaways as a result.
“I am so stressed and upset with the situation. I can’t afford to pay for an electrician myself and I have been struggling to feed my kids for five weeks,” the mother of two said today.
“I have two children and my husband has three who stop on the weekend, so I’m trying to cook for seven people.
“We’ve been paying for takeaways and things like that, but I told the council ‘there’s only so many takeaways we can buy’.
“We had to have help from neighbours and someone lent me their microwave, I’ve had to borrow somebody’s AirFryer to do the chips.
“Basically we’ve just been doing chips, chicken nuggets, pasta – and that’s all you can really cook without an oven.”
Sophie, who is a retail worker, told Birmingham Live council workers did visit her home on Christmas Eve last year but found it was a bigger job than expected.
But wires have been exposed in the kitchen in the six weeks since.
Sophie, who lives in the Kings Norton area of Birmingham, continued: “We don’t get a lot of money from work, obviously we just get by so we can’t afford to keep having takeaways.”
Birmingham City Council, a Labour stronghold, has apologised for the delay and insists the oven will be repaired “as soon as possible”.
But Sophie remains angry with the authority. Her son is in the process of being diagnosed with autism, and is “very picky with food”.
“He can only have certain foods which is difficult without having an oven,” the retail worker continued.
“The (the council) said they would send an email to get someone out to do the job. They said: ‘Someone will contact you within 24 hours and they never do.’
“Birmingham City Council said they were coming out this Tuesday but just to have a look first.”
A spokesman for Birmingham City Council said: “We are sorry for the problems caused by the failure to repair the tenants’ broken cooker.
“A housing officer will ensure it is replaced as soon as possible.”
Experts warned last year of the dangers of trying to repair appliances, like ovens and boilers, yourself if you have little experience with them.
Bruna Pani, an expert from We Buy Any House, told Express.co.uk readers how to tinker with appliances safely.
