A grandmother says she was left "distraught" after having no heating at her independent living flat for four months.

Sandra Jones, known as Sandy, moved to Hollybush Court in Sevenoaks from Milton Keynes last year to be closer to her family, who live in Edenbridge.

Sandy, 65, says she had no heating when she moved into the West Kent housing association property on September 16 last year, until it was finally fixed on Monday last week.

She reported the problem in November and had several people, including her care company and housing officer, make calls on her behalf asking for the problem to be repaired.

Sandy has the immune condition IgG4, which causes disease in a person's organs, and the vascular disease granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), which is a rare condition where the blood vessels become inflamed.

She also gets frequent chest infections, and has anxiety and depression, which she says have been made far worse by her lack of heating and the stress of the situation.

She called the housing department to ask for her heating to be fixed over Christmas, and was told it could not be done until January.

She said: "They finally sent someone in to fix it on Friday, January 13, and it didn't work so I called them and they said they would send someone else out and they didn't.

"I just got so distraught. I've got a chest infection, I've been on antibiotics and it's making me sick. They didn't even give me a heater.

"Why do they put you in a retirement home and say it's independent living when there's no heating for months?

"It can't be called independent living. It's just destroyed my life. I regret moving here."

Sandy wanted to be near her family and could not make the drive between Milton Keynes and Kent.

"I've got no friends here," she added. "Instead of being a happy place I now don't want to be here."

Neil Diddams, director of property and assets at West Kent said: “Our priority is to provide appropriate heating for all residents and we understand how especially important this is to those who are older or more vulnerable.

"We are sorry to hear about one of our residents having issues with their heating at Hollybush Court. We recognise in this case there have been some issues with planned repairs to heating systems, which are now complete.

"Whilst we did act early last year to replace the communal boilers at the scheme, which made the building warmer and more efficient we recognise we needed to do more for this resident.

"We will continue to offer further support through our repairs and support services.”