They stood in borrowed clothes. Some had fled in their underwear - just minutes before the side of their homes crashed to the ground.

Last night questions were being asked how a tenement gable wall came to collapse with little warning, leaving a number of families lucky to be alive.

Residents of the Wilton Street property in Glasgow's West End claimed they had warned their landlord about the danger posed by excavations at a nearby gap site under development.

But a wider problem with Scotland's tenement buildings was emerging yesterday.

Experts claimed a lack of maintenance of older buildings across Scotland and the UK meant that more properties were at risk of collapse, unless swift action was taken.

As investigations began into what caused the four-storey wall to crumble, residents were more concerned about what would happen to them and whether their warnings had been ignored.

Strathclyde Police said it was a "miracle" none of around 12 tenants who lived in the multi-occupancy flats was injured when the wall gave way. Just half an hour before, five people had been evacuated from the blonde sandstone building.

Residents had contacted emergency services on Monday evening after cracks appeared in walls.

Among those now homeless is Dr Sudheer Surapaneni, 29. Wrapped in a shawl, and wearing borrowed jeans and a sweatshirt, he said: "Before the wall went, a firefighter came to the door and told us to leave immediately. I'd just come out the shower. All I had on was my underwear and slippers."

Pointing to his exposed top-floor bedroom, he said: "That's where I was. I can't believe this, we could have died. Someone must be held responsible."

Gazing at the tattered remnants of her home was eight-month pregnant Radka Koflova, 30, originally from the Czech Republic. She said: "Our life is in there and we have lost it all. It feels like a bad dream. Everything we had ready for our baby, even my hospital bag, is among rubble. I'm so worried about the stress affecting our baby."

Attention appeared to be focusing on building work next to the tenement yesterday as a possible factor in what had happened.

Willie Smith, a developer who owns property in the same street, said: "The metal girder that supported the wall appears to have been removed. But I don't blame the workmen - Glasgow City Council's building control department should have been monitoring this more closely."

According to Ms Koflova, who is pregnant with her first child, loud bangs could be heard throughout the tenement and cracks appeared on walls, as builders worked on the site.

When her husband Jan, 33, returned from work, they fled to a police station.

Mr Koflova said: "I got home around 7pm and saw the workmen were gone and had left a gaping hole with no structure close to the tenement. We ran to the police and told them you might think we're crazy, but we think something is going to happen'. When we returned, the building came down."

Standard Homes Ltd, which has ceased work on the site until the investigation is complete, said it was "deeply shocked" at the incident, but refused to be drawn on claims. It added in a statement: "They (Standard Homes) are relieved it did not result in injuries."

Some residents claimed the owner of the flats, Jagdish Singh Bassi, had already been warned about movement within the tenement.

Patrick Shields, 26, a painter and decorator, who lived on the top floor, said: "Even before the builders arrived, cracks were appearing in walls. We told Mr Bassi the place was a death-trap, an accident waiting to happen, but he wouldn't listen."

Mr Shields added: "After a large chunk of cornicing fell from the ceiling and shattered a guitar on Wednesday, we called again. Anyone standing there would have been killed, but Mr Bassi didn't turn up to look at it until Saturday."

George Wilson, 44, an electrician, who lived in the basement flat, claimed that hours before the wall collapsed, the landlord advised him to "just move rooms".

In response, Mr Bassi said that he was "deeply shocked" about the incident, but denied being alerted to residents' concerns.

In December last year, part of a tenement's rear wall collapsed in Clarence Drive, Glasgow.



In July last year, Edinburgh City Council began a scheme ordering property owners to pay for surveys every five years if they were on a database of "hotspots" with a history of call-outs to deal with building defects. The move came after the collapse of stone cornice left the Cairn Hotel in Windsor Street with a £300,000 repair bill.

The Scottish Stone Liaison Group said an "MoT" on old properties was needed to ensure that they are properly looked after and do not become a public danger.