Elderly lady is left without heating for almost a week

ks16001195-1 Chi Rosemary Heating phot kate
Pensioner Rosemary Buckland who had no heating for a week.ks16001195-1 SUS-161114-164438008 — ks16001195-1 Chi Rosemary Heating phot kate Pensioner Rosemary Buckland who had no heating for a week.ks16001195-1 SUS-161114-164438008

Rosemary Buckland, 71, who lives in Gaston Way, Lavant, said engineers were waiting on a new fan which they had to order in, but she had not been told how long she would have to wait.

She said she was offered electric heaters by the Hyde Group, which manages the property, but declined as she couldn’t afford the energy costs.

“They’re just too expensive to put them in every room. I’ve got one of my own which I keep in my sitting room, but elsewhere is stone cold. It’s the coldest week and I’ve got no heating,” she said.

“It’s just the cost. When you’re an OAP you just live from week to week on your money, I have a pre-paid system because I don’t want any bills coming or something.”

She added: “I can’t understand why if in an emergency the engineers don’t have spare parts.

“They’ve had to order it and it’s such a big concern they should have had spare parts.

“I told them what the problem was when they rang the engineer but that wasn’t passed on to the engineer.”

Rosemary also said that two weeks ago she had a new shower fitted by Hyde, but the stopcock wasn’t fitted properly.

She insisted that it was sorted as soon as possible when she discovered a leak all over the cupboard and turned the stopcock down to a trickle and an engineer was sent out to fix it.

Rosemary’s heating has now been restored after the Observer approached Hyde for a comment.

Ann Greaves, resident services manager said: “We understand the tenant’s frustration that the repair to her boiler could not have been completed sooner and sincerely apologise.

“We are pleased to confirm that the arrival of the new part means that the boiler is now fixed.

“It’s unfortunate that our offer of electric heaters was not accepted, as this would have made a real difference to keeping the home warm.

“We do understand the tenant’s apprehension about the cost of using the heaters – if she had shared these concerns with us, we could have discussed providing a financial contribution to help meet additional costs incurred to heat her home.”