HELL'S KITCHEN

Gran in anxious three-week wait to see if she can reclaim money

- SALLY HIND

A DEVASTATED widow handed over her £15,000 life savings for a new kitchen days before a well known firm went bust.

Pensioner Caroline McVicar waited for fitters to turn up to her home this week before learning that DM Design had gone into liquidation.

Now the 72-year-old is stuck with a "shell" of a kitchen after the firm, which called itself "Scotland's longest running kitchen, bedroom and bathroom company", ceased trading with the loss of more than 30 jobs.

A sign at the firm's HQ in Cumbernauld told customers it was no longer trading but it was still taking cash for jobs in the weeks before it shut.

Gran-of-five Caroline wept as she told the Record: "I'm absolutely gutted.

"They were supposed to fit the kitchen on Monday and no one turned up. I tried phoning them and nobody answered. All the different numbers I had just rang out.

"I tried to phone one of the workers and left a message. Eventually they phoned to tell me they had gone into liquidation. I paid £15,000. It's all the money I've got.

"I've been left high and dry."