A mother-of-three who has been without heating for nine weeks has been told she will have to wait at least another three weeks before the problem can be fixed.

Julie Wilson from Shepway says ever since her boiler broke in January her four bedroom house has been 'absolutely freezing' despite calls for Swale Heating and her housing provider Clarion to fix the problem.

It was particularly bad during the period of snow last month when temperatures in Maidstone plummeted overnight to -7C.

Miss Wilson, 50, said: "One minute it's because they couldn't get the part in, the next minute it was because of delays with Brexit, and then the next it's the pandemic.

"They came out over the weekend to fix the display unit but all of a sudden my boiler is now completely broken and I need a new one entirely.

"I have three kids and my son is having to sleep in the living room because he has a broken leg and that seems to be the worst room at night. It's absolutely freezing.

"I just want my kids to be warm."

Miss Wilson has lived in the home in Oxford Gardens for 11 years with her children Jessica, 19, Louise, 15, and Tarran, 15.

While the radiators are 'stone cold', the family do still have hot water but Miss Wilson says 'it comes out so hot you can't touch it'.

On Monday, Clarion provided the family with four portable heaters to help warm the home while the new boiler is on order but the cost of using them to heat the house is a cause of concern for Miss Wilson.

A Clarion spokesperson said: “The wellbeing of our residents is our highest priority and we are sorry that it is taking longer than usual to get the parts needed to repair Ms Wilson’s heating. We are currently exploring alternative ways to obtain the parts.

"While Ms Wilson does currently have hot water via the immersion system and heating via temporary heaters, we understand that the resident prefers not to use this, and so we are working with our contractor to get this repair resolved urgently.”

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