Young mum still homeless two months after Dalkeith car smash

Siobhan Johnson and her daughter has been left in limbo after a car crashed into her house. Picture: Gordon Fraser

Siobhan Johnson, 23, had lived in her council house on Pinewood Road, Mayfield, Dalkeith, with two-year-old daughter Chanelle for more than a year.

That was until a car hit their home on a quiet Friday afternoon in April.

Miss Johnson said she had struggled to sleep since the horrific incident.

She said: “I was in the house with my daughter, my boyfriend and a few of my friends. The wall went right in.

“If it wasn’t for the new insulation we have, then the car would have gone right through the house.

“It was an absolute nightmare. I can’t sleep for thinking about it over and over.

“I’ve had to go to the doctors. The noise that it made left me and my child very distressed.

“The wee one still goes on about it.

“Just the four people in the car were injured. We were just so lucky that nobody in the house was hurt.”

Miss Johnson wants to move back into her home as soon as possible – but it will be months before the work is completed.

She also faces waiting another four weeks until the council can provide proper temporary accommodation.

Miss Johnson said: “I’m still living with my auntie, that’s more than four weeks now.

“I have not heard from the council in that time. I am not priority because I never went into bed and breakfast.

“But I couldn’t do that with the wee one. She has had enough upheaval.

“They should have had something for me to go into.”

A Midlothian Council spokesman said: “Ms Johnson had to be moved [at her request] following a road traffic accident rendering the property structurally unsafe.

“Works are currently under way to remedy this, but due to the extent of the damage this will take some months.

“Ms Johnson was offered emergency accommodation but she opted to live with her relative until suitable alternative temporary accommodation becomes available.

“She was advised last week that temporary accommodation will be made available in approximately one month in areas that are known to be suitable and safe for  her.”

Police Scotland said that no report has yet been submitted to the procurator fiscal in connection with the crash.

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