A WORCESTER mother said she simply cannot afford to keep her house warm after waiting nearly five weeks for her boiler to be repaired.

Mandy Palmer reported the fault to Sanctuary Housing on Monday, January 10 and a contractor was sent out to assess the problem.

A week later another contractor came out and said the boiler would need replacing. Ms Palmer was given a plug-in electric heater in the meantime.

Miss Palmer said that after making numerous calls to the housing association trying to find out when the new boiler would be fitted, she was eventually told the two-day job would be started on Monday, February 14.

The 40-year-old, of Marlow Road, Dines Green, said the temporary heater uses so much electricity she has to pay £10 every day to top it up.

Ms Palmer, who lives with her 15-year-old daughter Chloe, said: “I just can’t afford to pay for the electricity so I can’t carry on using the electric heater.

“It is ridiculous for it to take this long. Five weeks to replace a boiler is a joke.

“I could have told them to deliver the boiler and then I could have paid for it for to be installed myself, which would have been cheaper than the amount I have spent topping up the electricity.

“The heater only heats up the downstairs anyway. At this time of year I don’t think it is acceptable to be left living in a house with no heating for this long.”

A spokesman for Sanctuary Housing said they could have installed the boiler sooner but struggled to get hold of Miss Palmer on the phone.

Jason MacGilp, Sanctuary’s regional director for the Midlands, said: “Ms Palmer reported a fault with her boiler on January 10 and we immediately sent our contractor to assess the problem.

“One option was to replace the boiler and a second appointment was booked for January 14, in agreement with Ms Palmer, when a surveyor confirmed this was the best solution to the problem.

“To ensure Ms Palmer was not left without any form of heating while the new boiler was on order she was offered with a temporary source of heating which she accepted.

“When the replacement boiler arrived, our contractor tried to contact Ms Palmer on two occasions to make an appointment to install it.

“Having failed to get hold of Ms Palmer by phone, the contractor then sent her a letter stating an appointment had been booked for February 14.”