Trees put TV out of picture for Crook couple
A CROOK couple plagued by poor television reception are frustrated at Durham County Council’s “unwillingness” to help.
A large tree at the back of Jim and Eileen Gooch’s home on Daleview has meant they are unable to receive a television signal and have struggled to watch their favourite shows and use Teletext. JULY 1 EDITION
The problem is particularly bad in the summer months when the tree is in leaf and since moving into the property six years ago the couple have spent hundreds of pounds realigning their aerial and installing signal boosters.
However, their efforts proved unsuccessful and requests for the council to trim the tree have also been fruitless.“It has been going on for weeks and every time I ring I get put through to a different department,” he said. “The last thing they said was that it was not their policy to cut down healthy trees and that we would have to do without.
“We are not asking them to do that – we like trees. We just want it trimmed down a bit.”
Mrs Gooch said the authority seemed unwilling to help and said it was bad customer service. “All we want is for someone to come out and have a look so we can see what can be done,” she said. “It is so frustrating.”
Jimmy Bennett, Streetscene Manager, said: “This gentleman’s bungalow sits in a dip and is quite a distance away from tree in question.
“As the tree is healthy, our guidelines are not to take it down without good reason to do so and we would only look to prune the tree if we it was causing damage to property.