Woman in protest against VINLEC

If the Philistines had a management team similar to that of the St. Vincent Electricity Services Company (VINLEC), their great warrior Goliath would have lived a little longer.{{more}}

Within minutes of the start of a one-woman protest by irate New Montrose resident Iza Garrick – this story’s David, senior officials of the company moved to bring a possibly volatile situation under control.

Dressed in national colours and with placards recounting her experience, Garrick related her grouse with VINLEC as she stood outside the company gates on Wednesday morning at around 9 a.m.

Garrick said since June, her home has been invaded by dirt, gravel and mud, which she says had been left there by a VINLEC road project.

Garrick claims to have made several complaints to the project manager, to no avail.

“They left the dirt and gravel at my gate, I have to walk through gravel and mud to get to my house.”

She complained that a portion of the road on her street was repaved after the works were completed, except the area in front of her home.

Garrick also complained about the shortage of water caused by the laying of the underground cables. “I couldn’t get water for days”, she said, which also affected her visitors. “I had visitors in July; they had to use the neighbor’s shower.”

Minutes after Garrick began her crusade against the giants, she was gently ushered inside by a member of the customer services team, to speak with senior members of the company.

After discussing the matter, she was then taken home by an employee of this country’s sole electricity supply company.

A telephone conversation later that day with General Manager Thonley Myers, revealed that a resolution had been reached in the matter.

According to Myers, work will begin on repairing the portion of road in front of Garrick’s Residence as soon as possible.

Myers acknowledged that the area was supposed to have been repaired sooner, but because of the softness of that area, the decision was made to wait, thus causing the delay.

Not shying away from accepting responsibility, Myers explained that the job had been sub contracted to another party, and neither he nor the other Vinlec officials had heard about the situation before.

“She could have come to higher up in the company,” Myers said. “She was experiencing a difficulty that took longer than expected, but I think she is satisfied now.”

Myers explained that the situation was a one off occurrence, and does not expect any such occurrences in the future. (JJ/OS)