OAP spends harsh winter in freezing conditions as boiler stays broken for months

[dutchman]

Her family keep chasing Whitefriars housing for answers



A pensioner claims she has been left with no heating throughout one of the coldest winters in recent history because the housing association hasn’t fixed it.

Katherine Russell says she has had to wear a hat, scarf, gloves and fleece blankets since November.

The 80-year-old’s heating broke, and when her family called out Whitefriars, they arrived to fix the boiler.

However after ordering the part for the boiler and fitting it several weeks later, the pensioner says they decided something else was wrong.

Katherine, from Willenhall, and her son and daughter have now been living in the four-bed house for nearly three months with no heating.

Speaking before the problem was fixed, Katherine's daughter-in-law Emma said: “There are three people in the house but she is an elderly lady with an older son and daughter that live with her who have learning difficulties.

“This has been going on since November 2017, when the first issue was the heating had stopped working.

“We phoned someone on November 29 and they did come out, and they went to fix it.

“When they came out, they told us a switch which went from the boiler to heat the water was broken and needed repair.

“It took several weeks to chase up that part and just after Christmas it still wasn’t solved.

“Between Christmas and New Year that part came and they said it isn’t just that, it was a pump that had broken too.

“But they should have found that before.

“Since then, we have been chasing and chasing them and they just keep saying it will be next week or at the end of the week.”

The family says they had just one heater to use - a halogen one which is expensive to run.

Speaking before the issue was resolved, she said: “Because we have had bad frost, she is wearing so many layers because she is so cold.

“She has one heater but it uses lots of electricity so she doesn’t heat it up that much.

“She has been ill and she is going to get worse and in hospital and we want it fixed.”

Whitefriars fixed the long-running problem yesterday after being contacted by the Coventry Telegraph.