A CUSTOMER has expressed her frustration at a Carlisle laundrette firm, claiming it has left her high and dry following a fire at the shop.

Trish Turton, from Harraby, got in touch with The Cumberland News after failing to hear anything from Marley and Daughters laundrette, on Caldewgate.

It comes more than seven weeks after fire crews from Carlisle’s East and West stations were called to the shop on the evening on Thursday, May 2.

The firefighters spent an hour at the premises tackling the blaze, which originated from a tumble dryer - using a hose reel, two breathing apparatus, a thermal imaging camera and a positive pressure (PPV) fan.

Following the fire, the shop has remained closed, with a sign placed on the front door of the laundrette, advising customers to get in touch with them for further details about their laundry and dry cleaning.

Since Trish’s call to find out about some bedding which she had taken in to be cleaned, she has been unsuccessful in hearing back from the company to find out if, or even when, she will get it back.

Trish said: “I’m not really sure what’s happened to it.

“I put a cream bedspread in to be cleaned at the end of April, then heard about the fire a few days later.

“I called the number they had placed on the door for customers to contact and a woman told me that it was just a fire in the tumble dryer.

“She said that they managed to save people’s stuff, but that it would take a little longer, and when it was done they would deliver it back to me.”

Trish added that she was asked to send her name, address and the laundry ticket number to the phone number she contacted - but has had radio silence from the company since.

“I’ve never heard anything since or been able to get in touch with them,” she said.

“I went there on the Tuesday before the fire, and paid a total of £15 to put it in.”

It wasn’t until a few days after the fire had happened at the Caldewgate premises that she heard about it, through a friend.

“A friend of mine, who works nearby, sent me a picture of the note on the door,” Trish continued.

Trish fears that other customers are in the same boat, but she added that she wasn’t aware of anyone she knew who had also used the laundrette.

  • The Cumberland News tried on several occasions to get in touch with Marley and Daughters, but failed to get a response from the laundrette company by the time we went to press.
  • Have you been affected by the closure? Contact our reporter Kris Tatum at kris.tatum@newsquest.co.uk