Flies at Custom House, Newham flats ‘trigger fire alarm’

A Custom House woman has claimed that a lack of bin collections in her building led to a fly infestation so bad it has triggered the fire alarm twice.

Charlotte, who did not wish to give her last name, said she moved into the new-build in Baxter Road 18 months ago.

She claimed the bins for the six flats rarely get collected, and only do approximately every six or seven weeks when the pile-up is reported to the council.

She believes this has caused fly and cockroach infestations in her building.

Charlotte claims there has been a cockroach infestation in the building over the last year (Image: Supplied)

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Charlotte said: “The flies are just so bad… we’ve had pest control for an infestation in our flats at the end of last summer.

“The smell is absolutely horrendous. I just don’t know what to do anymore and it’s so bad.”

She claimed that in October the London Fire Brigade had to attend the building as the fire alarm was going off.

Charlotte said she was told by firefighters that the fire alarm was triggered last year by flies in the bin shoot (Image: Supplied)

She said: “There were so many flies it was triggering the alarms of the building that we had to have them to come out and turn it off twice.

“[The alarm went off] in the communal area – on the panel it said fire in the bin shoot.

“There wasn’t a fire but firefighters said it was because of the sheer amount of flies [that was] triggering the alarm – they’re getting into the vent.”

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Newham Council said that they have investigated the bin collection arrangements and that the issue has been rectified, with regular collections now in place.

There has been an issue with bin collection (Image: Supplied)

A Newham Council spokesperson said: “These will be closely monitored over the coming weeks to ensure any further issues are quickly rectified and resolved.

“New processes and collection days are being developed and will be rolled out over the coming months to improve the service across the borough.”

The council added that it is in the process of reviewing the way the service operates.

Populo Living, which manages the block, did not respond to a request for comment.