A Stirling mum and her children were without heating when their boiler packed in during last week’s cold spell.
Council tenant Laura Curley and her three children – 13-year-old Iona, Euan (12) and Erin (8) – did not have heating and hot water for three nights and two days due to a boiler problem at their Cornton home.
Laura has lived in the Strathmore Drive property for seven years. She said this week that the boiler breaks down on a regular basis leaving her without heating and hot water.
In the latest incident the boiler broke down on Tuesday evening and was not fixed until Friday morning – during a week which saw day time temperatures fall well below freezing.
Laura said: “The boiler breaks down regularly. No sooner is it fixed than it goes again.
“Last week we were without heat or hot water for three nights and two days.
“It was a bit worrying because I wasn’t sure when it would be back up and running again. I’d been told of a 36-hour window to fix the problem. I do feel the council should have acted sooner in this situation.
“I had an electric heater, which I put on for a few hours in the evenings, but I didn’t want to have it on too long because of the cost.
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“It was very cold. We all went to bed at 7.30 at night and I gave the kids hot water bottles. That was the best way to stay warm.
“I was also worried that the pipes would freeze.
“I’m still a bit concerned that the boiler could break down again over the festive period.”
A Stirling Council spokesperson said this week: “Due to the extreme freeze-thaw conditions last week, our Housing Repair Team dealt with a very high number of emergency and urgent repair calls.
“Staff worked round the clock to deal with high demand and attended call-outs as quickly as possible.
“Unfortunately, this led to longer response times, and we shared updates with customers on social media about the situation along with help on dealing with burst pipes. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to residents.”
