Disabled couple only given a tiny heater after having no hot water for weeks
A disabled woman who has been left without heating or hot water in her home since before Christmas says she and her husband have been left ‘freezing’ over winter.
Rosa Moulton, 54, who lives in a three-bedroom house in Camborne with her husband Steven, 57, was offered a tiny heater by the housing association to help heat her home, and told to take showers at the local leisure centre.
Since December 23 the pair have only had access to heating and hot water for only two days following a ‘temporary’ fix by the Pengegon property owner, Habinteg Housing Association.
The couple have spent much of the bitter winter trapped in one room trying to keep warm and have made 31 calls to the company to no avail.
‘We are very frustrated as they kept promising to fix it and apart from two days where an engineer did a temporary fix we’ve had nothing all over Christmas,’ explained Rosa, who is disabled and suffers from inflammatory bowel disease.
‘They’ve also practically begged us not to go to the press.’
She added: ‘Since December 23 we’ve had no hot water and no heating. They know exactly what the problem is but they’ve now said they need a specialist out when they’ve already had a gas engineer out here three times who has told them what’s wrong.
‘We’ve made 31 calls to the housing association and we are still here with no hot water. I’m disabled, my husband is a carer and he’s got heart problems. The housing centre keeps telling me to go to the local leisure centre to have a shower which I can’t do.’
‘They’ve given us one tiny electric heater to heat our home,’ she continued. ‘It’s as small as it looks, it’s tiny. It’s absolutely freezing here.
‘We’re in one room with the door shut and we’re managing to just keep it to a level where we can sit in it but the rest of the house is absolutely freezing.’
She said she speaks to the housing association daily and is repeatedly told someone will be out that day to repair the boiler, but they never show. “They phoned me yesterday (January 8) and absolutely promised that someone would be out but they weren’t and then they said sorry and that we were first on the list tomorrow. It’s a never-ending circle.
‘The emergency line is clearly not fit for purpose as they have a 24 hour hotline for emergencies and it is supposed to be fixed in 24 hours, especially because of our disabilities. Yet it’s been weeks.’
Mrs Moulton has confirmed that someone has finally arrived today (January 9) and says there is still a fault showing but the boiler is now ‘useable’. Habinteg Housing Association has been contacted for comment and a spokesperson said: ‘We are really sorry for the delay that Mr and Mrs Moulton faced in having their boiler fixed.
‘Due to the timing, and intermittent nature of the fault, it unfortunately took longer than expected, and required a senior engineer to attend. We worked hard to ensure our contractors attend the property as a matter of urgency, and we have been in regular contact with Mr and Mrs Moulton, keeping them updated with any progress. The faulty part has now been replaced and tested, and the boiler is fully functional.’
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