Hemel mum and young son left in 'freezing' home without heating for almost a MONTH

Jade Broome, 29, has had no central heating since Christmas Eve and was forced to go to her mother’s home for showers and washing.

The mum, from Apsley Lock, says she made a number of desperate calls to her housing association, Metropolitan Housing, asking them to fix the boiler.

She says they told her they would send someone to restore their heating – but was then left for almost a month in “freezing” conditions.

The part-time support worker also said she was forced to use “expensive” electric heaters and radiators to keep warm, often spending up to £8 a day on temporary heating alone.

It wasn’t until the Hemel Gazette & Express demanded a response from Metropolitan that the housing firm offered to fix the boiler immediately.

Jade said: “My house is freezing and I’m at breaking point, I cannot stress enough how let down I feel as a mother.

“You want the best for your children and now my son is sick and I’m helpless.

“I have taken time off work and my son has spent the first week back at school off because he has a fever and chest infection.”

Jade first rang her housing association about her broken boiler on Christmas Eve, and despite two engineer visits she is still without central heating.

She added: “The amount of times I’ve called and gone through the situation you’d have thought it would have been sorted, but it hasn’t.

“I feel powerless and it’s awful.”

A spokesperson from Metropolitan Housing said the delay was due to the repair being “more complex than initially thought”, and the need to arrange a number of visits by its engineer.

The spokesperson told the Gazette & Express said: “We regret that this issue has taken longer than expected to resolve and apologise for the inconvenience experienced by our resident.

“Throughout this process we have remained in regular contact with the resident and temporary heaters have been provided as an interim measure,” the spokesperson explained.

“Following our engineer’s most recent visit, it has been recommended to fully replace the boiler.

“We will be carrying this work out tomorrow (January 22) which we expect will fully resolve the issue,” the spokesperson added.