A grieving daughter is fighting to get her family’s priceless items back in a storage war showdown after fire damaged a facility storing precious belongings.
Customers are now being asked to fork out thousands of dollars to recover their items, with many fearing the company will dispose of them if they can’t pay.
For Veronika Veale, decades of memories are trapped inside Scoresby’s Public Self Storage facility in Melbourne’s east.
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“There’s my wedding dress, there’s my children’s belongings, there’s everything that represents our family,” she said.
“To know that it’s just there and we can’t have it back is just devastating.”
In July, a huge blaze took hold of the Public Self Storage facility. Since then, thousands of items have been locked away.
One victim revealed the deeply personal nature of what’s being held.
“There are human remains in this building, at least three lots of human remains, and I mean cremated ashes,” she said.
‘I don’t care how it started. All I care about is my family’s things.’ Credit: 7NEWS
Customers were told their precious things were unsalvageable, but when sent photos, some showed minimal damage.
Now they’ve been told they must pay to retrieve their items.
“I don’t have a lazy 10k lying around to recover my things, so we’re sort of stuck with their decision,” Mark Bugeja said.
Customers had until last night to pay and retrieve their personal items. They now worry the company will dispose of them.
“Smoke and soot carry combustion residues into everything,” Public Self Storage told 7NEWS. “None of this is visible. A photograph cannot tell anyone whether the goods are safe.”
But Veale says she’s not interested in compensation or blame.
“I don’t want to sue anyone. I don’t want to place blame. I don’t care how it started,” she said. “All I care about is my mother’s things, my things, my family’s things.”
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