AN angry father-of-five claims his children are facing danger in their own home from exposed electrical wiring which he was told would not be fixed for five days.

David Paterson, of Woodstock Road, called Worcester Community Housing (WCH) immediately after his 11-year-old son Christian accidentally knocked the surface-mounted socket on Monday with a pushchair, breaking the casing.

The registered carer thought the damage would be fixed immediately but was furious when he was told it was not an emergency and could take up to five days.

The door leading to the dining room is hanging by one hinge after years of repairs had left the frame resembling a “colander” so could not be used to cordon off the area, he said.

A WCH spokesperson said the call did not fall within its category of emergency 24-hour response but was categorised as urgent, meaning work would be carried out within five working days.

Mr Paterson had asked his son to move a pushchair into the dining room but Christian, who goes to Regency High School, accidentally caught the socket with the pushchair and it shattered.

“I understand it is our fault and we will have to pay, I am not bothered about that, but it is totally unsafe and needs fixing immediately,” he said.

A trained tradesman was expected to visit the family home today.

But the 39-year-old said he believed someone should have been sent out as an emergency as the exposed wires put his children Christian, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), McKenzie, seven, Charlie, Archie, a four-year-old with learning difficulties, and Elle-Louise, one, at risk.

The family was forced to cancel Charlie’s sixth birthday party on Tuesday because of fears over the safety of his friends.

Mr Paterson added: “Our dining room door is broken and I have two disabled children so it means I will have to stand in the dining room doorway to stop them going in – it is an absolute joke.

“It is totally unsafe because the wires are exposed. If the door was fixed I could put a catch but I can’t even do that.”

Marc Mayall, head of building maintenance service at WCH, said: “We take our repair responsibilities seriously and we will always try to meet the needs of our customers, on this occasion, unfortunately, Mr Peterson was not happy with our service.

“We will take this into consideration when the repair categories are reviewed in the future.”

He said that due to the nature of how the socket was damaged Mr Paterson would be charged for the repair work.