Sick Shropshire pensioner left without heat for days
The son of a bedridden Shropshire pensioner has criticised a housing association for leaving her without any heating or hot water for days.
Andrew James, 53, from Shifnal, said his mother Hilda, 88, has had problems with the heating at her Much Wenlock home since before Christmas.
Mrs James, who suffers from pneumonia and Alzheimer's, has lived in her Bromford Housing Association home for 18 years. Her son said he is now worried about her health after the heating was off for four days in freezing weather.
"She is severely ill and is bed-bound, but she might as well have just been left outside it was so cold in the house. It has taken its toll, she is very frail and old and needs looking after," Mr James said.
He said the heating at the home, in Chapel Close, originally failed a week before Christmas and was repaired within two days.
"The heating was okay until February 1 when it broke again. They repaired it that night but it went again on February 4 in the morning," he said. "There was no hot water and no heating. I phoned Bromford, and at first they said the house did not exist."
An engineer did not finally repair the heating until February 8.
"It's really terrible of them to just leave her for days," Mr James said. "I had to pay for a carer to stay with my mum in case an engineer came but it was a real merry-go-round.
"I can't understand why they did not give her any heating while they waited for repairs. I had to go out and buy portable fires. Bromford has apologised but she should have been made a priority and the heating fixed immediately."
Darrin Gamble, from Bromford Housing Association, said: "We would like to extend our sincere apologies. We were sad to hear Mrs James had experienced issues with her boiler and that engineers had failed to attend within the quoted emergency call-out time.
A Bromford customer service manager has been in direct contact with Mrs James's family to discuss the situation and reassure them our primary concern is getting her warm and comfortable in her own home.
"We can confirm that a replacement heating system was installed on February 8. We will also be conducting a thorough investigation with our gas contractor into the incident."
