Dame Joan Collins called the police after finding maskless workmen on her balcony.
Dame Joan Collins
The 87-year-old actress questioned why the builders should "invade [her] quarantine" at her flat in London's Belgravia, as she and husband Percy Gibson have been staying at home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
She wrote on Instagram: "Woke up to find two workmen on my balcony not wearing #masks and several of them #maskless all over the building putting scaffolding up. Being careful to quarantine and having no contact with people - why should others invade my quarantine? @citywestminster @metpolice_uk (sic)"
Metropolitan Police officers later arrived at her flat on Monday (18.01.21), and a frustrated Percy questioned why such building work needs to take place amid the current national lockdown, claiming it is "external redecoration to make a house pretty".
Speaking to the Sebastian Shakespeare column in the Daily Mail newspaper, he said: "They are talking to Joan outside now.
"What is so annoying is that these works are unnecessary. Surely, they could have waited until lockdown is over. Are they really essential?
"I can understand works taking place to repair gas mains or build houses, but not this, which is external redecoration to make a house pretty."
Earlier this month, Joan admitted she "rushed" to have her coronavirus vaccine, and felt "privileged" to have been administered the first of two jabs so quickly.
She said: "I got the call from the Bloomsbury hub, which is from the physician … and they said if I came in tomorrow, and they told me this on Friday, they had a certain amount of the vaccine.
"They only had a certain amount, I don’t know why that is, I don’t know the ins and outs of how the distribution is going but of course, I rushed there as soon as possible...
"I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that everybody is doing what they are supposed to do. Israel has got practically three quarters of their population vaccinated already.
"So, I do feel if everybody registers as soon as they can with their local GP, they will be called. I know it’s probably a lot more difficult if you live on the outskirts. I happen to live in central London, so I was very lucky and very privileged."