A SERVING soldier living in a military property in Larkhill is struggling to keep his family healthy as the property has a substantial mould problem and says this is a "last resort".
The soldier, who does not wish to be named for fear of repercussions, has four children all with health complications.
He said: “I am reporting this as a last report. The mould has become much worse in the last three months, and my children already have health issues and now have coughs and colds.
"We don’t want to take the children out of school as we would get fined, but we just want this mould issue to be sorted. It’s really bad.
“My son has asthma, and we are all unwell. We try to clean it, but it just comes back. I just want this sorted."
Mould is a serious risk to health creating respiratory symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, sinus infections, sore throats, and headaches as well as asthma attacks.
The dangers of being exposed to mould have recently made the national news when a young child died from a respiratory condition as a result.
Pinnacle confirmed that in the first instance, a family must contact their helpdesk where details are taken and then passed to the MOD’s maintenance contractor which is VIVO Defence.
A spokesperson for Pinnacle said: “We are very sorry to hear that this family has experienced several missed appointments by the repair’s contractor. We take damp and mould issues very seriously, and families can contact our helpdesk to raise concerns.
“While we are not responsible for the condition and upkeep of military homes, we work closely with the Ministry of Defence on such issues and express our sympathies to families affected by any housing concerns.”
Managing director for VIVO Defence, Jerry Moloney, said: “Mould and damp is a serious issue and we act on reports quickly for this very reason. We received details of this property on 20 November and carried out a telephone questionnaire with the family and commissioned an independent survey the next day.
"We have also visited the address ourselves and now we have the completed survey back we will start work to rectify this next week.”
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