Yesterday, in the early evening, a fellow resident pointed out a really bad potential fire hazard in the basement, at the corners of Crescent and Hatfield House.  There were piles of thousands of newspapers that had been dumped, dating 16 years ago.  Really concerned I telephoned the out of hours phone number.  I went through to someone at Windsor House, but after explaining the situation I was told 'Sorry love, that's not on the list of emergencies'.  Apart from not wanting to be addressed in such a casual way, I could hardly see how this could not be classed as an emergency.  As we know there have been a few fires lit in the basements on the Estate, and it can be very dangerous.  As this person refused to help I contacted the police, who kindly notified the Cleansing Department.  

However, they could not get access to the basement, because of the barrier, so the police phoned me asking for the Windsor House Phone number.  They agreed that the person on call should have done something about it, as it was not really a police matter, but the Council's responsibility.  I was grateful for their help.  Eventually, 2 recycling lorries turned up, and it took about 6 men to clear the area.  Ian, from the Estate Office was called out to let them through the barrier, and I appreciate that as he was off duty.  This incident should be addressed by the City of London, and an explanation given why assistance was refused initially.  It is not up to residents to have to chase around getting assistance from elsewhere in an emergency.  It appears that we pay a lot of service charges for a now unsatisfactory out of hours service.  I trust this will be looked into.