"It could have killed us" - Family left in shock after ceiling collapses in home

Dylan Craik and his partner Courtney Fawcett were left “shook up” after their living room ceiling collapsed on Tuesday evening (October 18).

It comes after the couple, who moved into their home in Connaught Terrace near Jarrow Metro station four years ago, say they had noticed shaking inside their house in recent times.

Although thankfully nobody was injured, an investigation has now been launched into what caused the collapse. However, Dylan, 25, believes the shaking in his property started after major work to upgrade the Metro line in South Tyneside began last month. Nexus has said it will be working with its contractor to look into the matter and had arranged a visit to see the couple.

Dylan, who works for Vodafone, said: “I’m still a bit shook up. If the ceiling had fallen 10 minutes later we would have been sitting on the sofa eating our tea – it could have potentially killed us. We’ve never had any problems in the last four years and prior to that my dad owned the house and he didn’t have any bother either so I think it’s got to be down to the Metro works.

“We’ve filed complaints before now because the shaking can get really bad, especially as I work from home so it’s been a bit of a nightmare the last few months and now the ceiling has fallen through. It’s quite scary to think that something else could just collapse at any time so it’s just waiting for the next thing.”

A spokesperson for Nexus said: “We are working with our Metro Flow contractor, Buckingham Group Ltd, to investigate this matter.

“We were made aware of a collapsed ceiling at a house on Connaught Terrace in Jarrow.

“We are in contact with the owner of this property, and staff from Buckingham Group have been to visit them today. We are liaising directly with them on any further findings.”

As part of the Metro Flow project, three sections of track in South Tyneside totalling five kilometres in length are being dualled between Pelaw and Bede Metro stations. As a result, no Metros are currently running between Pelaw and South Shields until December 4.