A MAN has been left “hurt and angry” after bungling housing association contractors mistakenly emptied his garage and disposed of sentimental items belonging to his late parents.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, rents a garage in Chineham from VIVID which he uses to store valuable items such as photographs and paintings given to him by his parents who passed away last year.

The garage was emptied and the contents thrown away on October 23 by a subcontractor, employed by VIVID, which was supposed to clear the garage next door which had a removal of item notice stuck to the front door of it.

Since then, VIVID have been contacted by the man’s solicitor after no apology was received from the housing association.

The man said: “I had all of my parents’ belongings in the garage because I couldn’t fit them in my flat, and now they have been thrown away.

“I don’t know how they can get it so wrong, there was a bright red sticker on the correct garage.

“It’s really affected my family, in particular, my brother and I – those photos were all we really had left of my parents and our grandparents.

“I feel like it’s my fault because I was keeping the items somewhere I thought would be safe and secure.”

When the man first contacted VIVID to ask what had happened, they advised him to contact the police because it sounded like his garage had been broken into before they later admitted to the mistake.

The man, who suffers with depression and anxiety, has recently had to start taking medication because of the stress caused by this incident.

He added: “They also threw away all my work tools, it just seems like such a bizarre mistake to make.

“I just can’t believe VIVID haven’t apologised yet for their mistake, I understand mistakes happen but all I want is an apology.

“It would be the decent thing for them to apologise so I can’t see why they haven’t, it’s just baffling.”

Since the mistake, VIVID has confirmed it has had fitted more secure locks to the garage as the lock was able to be opened by the key belonging to the wrong garage.

Carol Williams, operations director at VIVID said: “We can confirm that our subcontractor mistakenly emptied the wrong garage of items and we understand that our customer is upset and frustrated. We’re working closely with our insurer and subcontractor to come to a solution.”

The man is also now trying to seek out old photos of his parents as he has none left.