YORKSHIRE Housing has said it will compensate an elderly Ingleton couple for the extra electricity they used after being left with no central heating and no hot water for 10 days when their boiler broke on January 4.

Tom Webb, who lives with his wife Anne at Low Demesne Close, said they had been disappointed in being kept waiting so long for the repair which was eventually done this morning.

The couple said it had been a miserable and worrying 10 days which came during a cold snap.

"It had been so cold we ended up going to bed in the afternoon because it was the warmest place. We kept ringing Yorkshire Housing but all they said was they couldn't get the part," said Mr Webb.

Mrs Webb said both of them had been in tears at one point. "We had no idea how long we were going to have to wait or how we would manage. We felt so let down," she said.

The couple, both 78, said they rang the housing association straight away after the boiler stopped working and an engineer did come out soon after but wasn't able to help.

"He (the engineer) informed us that the water pump had failed but could not replace it because they were out of stock. New ones were on order but they had no idea when they would arrive. He said there were lots of people waiting for repairs.

"Fortunately we had bought an electric fire just a short time before the boiler broke.Yorkshire Housing brought another small heater for us to use but it was still very cold. We had no hot water and had to boil a kettle to wash up.

"My wife, who is disabled, and I went for our vaccine jabs on Monday to Kirkby Lonsdale. We didn't want to get out of the car when we got back because we couldn't face going into a freezing house.

"Now our neighbours are worried in case their boilers start to go and they can't get them repaired."

Mr Webb said Yorkshire Housing eventually told them they hoped to have the repair done by the end of this week. However, a spokesman for the housing association told the Craven Herald yesterday, Tuesday, that they hoped to have the repair done sooner.

It was eventually repaired this morning. Mrs Webb said they were 'so happy' to have the house warm again.

A spokesman for Yorkshire Housing said: “We always aim to repair any issues with heating quickly and this is especially important in the winter months. Unfortunately, we had no stock of the part that needed replacing, we've had this part on order for several weeks but despite trying alternative suppliers we couldn’t get hold of one immediately for the customer."

When asked why the engineer did not use a part from a boiler in an empty Yorkshire Housing house to save time, the spokesman added: “We did not consider removing the same part from an empty Yorkshire Housing property because we would struggle to get a watertight seal when using a second-hand part. That means we would in effect have the exact same problem reoccurring.

“While we sourced the part we left the customer with an electric heater. We always put our customers first and make sure they’re comfortable in their home and we encourage customers to get in touch with us if there is an issue so we can put it right for them.

“The new part has been fitted, on January 13, and we will discuss compensation with the customer for the additional electric they have used.”