Storm damage leaves couple living at Wetherspoons

An elderly couple have been living at a Wetherspoons hotel for nearly six weeks after a tree fell on their home during a storm.

Cath, 86, and Harold Mills, 84, have been told it could take more than a year to fix the apartment they rented in Camborne after it was severely damaged when Storm Goretti hit Cornwall on 8 and 9 January.

The couple have been put up in The John Francis Basset in Camborne by insurers while damage to the house is assessed by the property's landlord.

Cath Mills said they were used to their routine in their old house but "now things are really different", while Harold Mills - who has heart problems - said the staff at the hotel had "bent over backwards to help them".

On the night their home was damaged, Cath Mills said she heard an "almighty smash" as the Monterey pine outside their home came down.

"It just missed my husband," she added.

"The ceiling collapsed, one of the exterior walls has been severely damaged and the roof is completely gone.

"The whole house is waterlogged now and we can't even go in to collect a few belongings because it's not safe."

Cath Mills said while Wetherspoons was not home for them, the hotel staff had been "really nice" to the couple, including giving them a bigger room.

She added: "We're not spring chickens anymore and my husband has heart problems and is recovering from bowel cancer, so living in a hotel really isn't ideal."

The couple's insurance company, Ventis, is paying for their stay at the hotel and is helping them to find a rental property, which they hope to move into by March.

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