A man has been left devastated after he stripped his entire living room - including the fireplace - ahead of repairs, only to discover that he'd done it all a month too soon.
Terry Mulchinock, 58, completely gutted the front room of his house in Hull in order to let in the builders on Monday, but then called the council up to be told the work is to begin on 2 January instead.
That means that he's left facing the Christmas period with no living room.
Terry started to think that something might have gone wrong when the workmen he was expecting didn't show up. He then called the council, who he says assured him they were just running late.
After calling back, he says the council told him the scheduled work is - and always had been - set to start in the first week of January.
They apologised for the misunderstanding but told Terry that there was no way it would be possible to bring the date of the work forward.
He explained: "I'm devastated, it's shocking, I'm just in limbo. It's as simple as that."
As a result, Christmas is now 'cancelled' in Terry's house.
Terry, who has worked for 15 years at the Smith & Nephew company but spent the last three months off work with mental health issues, continued: "I don't know how I'm going to go forward with this, I'm at my wits' end with it.
"I'm sat in my living room with no furniture and I've still not heard back.
"I suffer from depression, I just can't motivate myself and I've got to live like this until January."
Terry had been planning on spending the festive period at home this year, but is now resigned to going somewhere else. He argued that it would be 'pointless' to completely reassemble the room, only to tear it back apart at the beginning of the new year.
The house, according to Terry, was only in such a state because of previous work that had gone awry.
He added: "'I had some rewiring done and they left the house in an atrocious state, it beggars belief.
"I've been fobbed off, I'm still waiting. I've got no control of my emotions at the moment. I've been waiting for the council to come and do repairs on my living room for some time, they sent a bloke round to check it and then someone to measure up.
"I got a phone call saying they'd be coming on 2 and 3 December for the work, so I cleared everything out and removed the fireplace and they were meant to come between 8am and 12pm.
"I waited and waited, then gave them a ring and spoke to a gentleman who confirmed that the job was booked in for yesterday and it must be late.
"So I sat in the house all afternoon then rang and spoke to a lady who said the job isn't due until January."
A spokesperson for Hull City Council said: "'We can confirm that the appointment made for the repairs to Mr Mulchinock's home is January 2/3 2020 and at no time did we say that the appointment would take place on the following day.
"We are sorry that he has misunderstood this arrangement and unfortunately, due to our volume of work, we cannot bring the appointment forward."
Featured Image Credit: MEN MediaTopics: UK News