»A family are considering legal action after a housing group removed their security gates.

Theresa Piper, who lives with her 29-year-old son Bradley Robeiro-Piper in Ballance Road, Homerton, installed the gates following a burglary 20 years ago.

In 2013, Hackney Homes gave them a deadline to remove them for health and safety reasons but, following an article in the Gazette, they were given a reprieve.

In a letter from Hackney Homes Housing manager Stella Nicholson they were told that the area where the gates were installed formed part of the property and “the grill and your front door are your responsibility”.

But this year, after a new estate manager succeeded Ms Nicholson, the Piper family were sent another letter asking them to remove the gates.

On March 27, Mrs Piper arrived home to find her gates had been removed.

The 56-year-old said: “I came home from lunch and I thought I was seeing things.

“I was worried because I had all my tools and my granddaughter’s bike on the porch. I had also left my windows open.

“I called Hackney Homes and I spoke to someone who told me it was a mistake.

“After a few hours, I called for an update and was told that the contractors would not be coming back.”

Mrs Piper said she was then told that contractors would bring the gates back as they were her property. But she was later told that they had been disposed of.

“I’m very angry,” she said. I’m not sleeping. The gates were there to protect us and gave me peace of mind.

“We have taken legal advice and are considering legal action.”

Charlotte Graves, chief executive of Hackney Homes, said: “We have a duty to protect our residents in the event of fire and, in this case, as the metal gate was blocking the resident’s sole escape route, we wrote to them to ask that they remove it.”