A RESIDENT has slammed housing bosses after his close fire alarm was left to ring all night long.

Billy Henderson and his neighbours in Inverkip Street were kept awake on Thursday night from 11pm until 6.45am the next morning because no-one from Oak Tree Housing Association came out to switch it off.

The alarm was triggered by a small blaze on the third floor landing of the tenement.

Firefighters rushed to the scene but the flames were out by the time they arrived.

Billy, 54, said: "Folk have been getting into the close and someone tried to set a fire to the fire doors.

"I've been here seven years and it always used to be a great close but sadly it's went downhill.

"My issue is with Oak Tree, who usually come out to turn the alarm off.

"I had to sit there and listen to that alarm until 6.45am.

"It's a disgrace, I was kept awake all night.

"I was absolutely shattered and I don't keep in good health.

"Two sets of tenants kept awake all night, one in this close and the other next door.

"Nobody from Oak Tree came to explain to us or tried to contact us."

Mr Henderson sent an email to Oak Tree and was told they were looking into the incident and would get back to him.

Nick Jardine, chief executive officer of Oak Tree Housing Association, today apologised for the inconvenience and said he was taking the matter very seriously.

He said: "The association’s procedure for dealing with circumstances such as this is that our reactive repairs contractor, who provide our out-of- hours emergency service, should have contacted a member of staff to attend to deactivate the alarm.

"On investigating Thursday night's events we can advise that unfortunately, our reactive repairs contractor failed to follow procedure and this is a matter that we are dealing with internally.

"We are sincerely sorry to the residents of 48 Inverkip Street and surrounding properties who were disturbed by the ongoing alarm sound until the early hours of the morning.

"Please be assured that we are treating this as a matter of priority and are reviewing our current procedure in order to avoid a repeat occurrence."