A Blackheath couple were left devastated after a leak in their home resulted in a hole so big their plumber fell into it.

Forty-eight-year-old Graham Jones and his wife Anne, 45, had a severe leak from the stopcock in their property in Wricklemarsh Road.

After the leak was eventually repaired the couple, who both work as paramedics for the London Ambulance Service, reported holes in their kitchen floor to Hyde Housing association which they claim move every time they step on it.

Mr Jones said: “It makes me feel pretty frustrated about the whole thing and it’s an awful thing seeing my wife so upset.

“It’s almost as if after putting up with the flooding for so long the house has just said ‘I can’t deal with this anymore’ and then the floor has just collapsed.

“As a husband it’s terrible when your wife looks to you to sort the mess out but you’re left feeling helpless.

“In my job, a person could be dying in front of you and you would know exactly what to do, but when the floor is caving because of a water leak and you don’t know what to do you’re left feeling vulnerable and it’s horrible.”

The couple also forked out £60 to hire a plumber to remove their washing machine.

Mr Jones also explained the floor, which has one hole up to his knee in depth, is a health and safety issue and as a result have been left with no working kitchen with their appliances moved onto their new carpet in the living room.

He said: “My wife has tripped on the kitchen floor and even the plumber we hired fell down the hole. As we were told by Hyde that our own insurance has to cover the water damage we were terrified at the thought of the plumber claiming off our insurance.

“I’d expect Hyde to have the humanitarian sense to sort this out and not leave us to suffer like this but all they seem to be doing is fire fighting and passing us from one person to another.”

The couple, who experienced the leak on 15 August, had an appointment booked to repair the floor on 28 August. This was then moved by Hyde to 1 September, rescheduled again to 4 September and then again by the housing association to 19 September.

Mr Jones, who has taken time off work for the appointments, was allegedly told by the company the delay has been due to no workmen being available and the location in which they live as the workmen contracted cover the north.

A spokesman from Hyde Housing said: “We apologise to Mr and Mrs Jones that the service received so far has fallen well below what we expect to provide to our residents and also for the inaccurate data provided to them by our contractors.”

The company added they are working with their contractor Mears to get the issue resolved as swiftly as possible for Mr and Mrs Jones and will be attending an appointment today (Wednesday) and tomorrow with a surveyor.