AN 85-year-old stroke victim living on her own in a council flat was left with no heating after housing workers forgot to order her a new boiler.

Lilian Cunningham, had to boil water from a kettle to do the washing up and only had a small electric fan heater to try to keep her flat warm.

She said that despite constant telephone calls to the housing service nothing was done to replace the boiler - until the day after our reporter contacted the council about the problem.

Mrs Cunningham, of Wharfedale Court, Burley-in-Wharfedale, said: "It broke down at Easter time and we reported it. We are sick of reporting it."

She added: "It was a good job it was mild weather but it is still cold in here. They gave me a fan heater for the bedroom and I have been using a kettle to boil water - it has been terrible."

A spokesman for Bradford Council's housing service claimed that the fault was reported on April 27, but Mrs Cunningham's son, Joseph, said it had been reported on April 23, shortly after Mrs Cunningham was discharged from Airedale Hospital after suffering a stroke.

The council spokesman said: "After inspecting it (the boiler), Mrs Cunningham was offered a fan heater as an alternative until the work was carried out.

"We had hoped to install the new boiler last week but due to an oversight the new boiler was not ordered and we have not yet received it. We fully apologise for the delay and can assure her that the work will be done this week."

Mr Cunningham said that many of the other boilers in the flats complex were old and needed replacing.

While her heating system was out of order, Mrs Cunningham was able to use an immersion heater to heat bath water but, fearing the high cost of electricity, was reluctant to use it to heat water for washing up.

Last year the council's housing repair service was roundly condemned for poor quality by an independent audit report prompting the council to introduce an action plan to solve the problems.

The poor service led Ilkley council tenants to form a new pressure group, the Ilkley Housing Tenants' Association in a bid to get improvements done. Chairman Janet Gent, of The Crescent, said problems over a central heating system for another resident was one of the first cases the group took on.

She said in that incident the problem with leaks and lack of heating went on for months before it was finally settled.

"I was disgusted with how the woman had been treated - they put new piping in and the joiners came the next day to put the floorboards back and nailed through the new pipes," said Mrs Gent.

Mrs Gent said that since the housing repair service was given a shake-up last year there had been slight improvements.

"It has improved slightly but there are a lot of things that can be looked at - it can be made a lot better," said Mrs Gent.

Mrs Cunningham told the Gazette that a council worker, who called on Tuesday, told her the new boiler would be put in today

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