A disabled Nottingham tenant has slammed British Gas after being told she would have to spend the night with no heating or hot water following her boiler breaking - despite her paying for breakdown service. Debra Mallon, 57, says she noticed the red light on her boiler blinking at around 6pm on Monday, December 12, before calling the energy company only to be told that there were no engineers in the Nottinghamshire area.
Debra, who has been with British Gas for more than 20 years, spends most of her time upstairs in her home, as she suffers from osteoarthritis in her knees, as well as acute asthma. After posting about her experience on Facebook, Debra and her husband were able to borrow an electric heater from a nearby neighbour.
She says she and her other half were upstairs all night trying to keep warm close to the heater. The family have had to keep the blinds closed and their pyjamas on to try and stay as warm as possible.
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Recalling the incident, Debra, who lives in Whitemoor, Nottingham, said: "I spend most of my time upstairs because I've got osteoarthritis at the knees, so I struggle getting up and down. My heater had been on.
"We have it on for a couple of hours in the morning and then at about five o'clock switch it back on again for a couple of hours at night. Last night I came downstairs at about six o'clock and went to put my heating on.
"I have a red light and yellow light on it and the red light flashes when there's something wrong. I checked everything; nothing, it wouldn't come on.
"So at ten-past-six I rang British Gas, because we pay them monthly for this service if I have a breakdown, to be told that they don't have an engineer in the Nottinghamshire area. They told me I would have to wait until tomorrow [December 13] and somebody would come out between 8am and 6pm.
"Now I told them that I am a vulnerable adult, I'm disabled, I suffer with COPD and acute asthma. My husband called them too when he got home from work and we were told the same thing.
"I got quite upset. I just find it diabolical that Nottinghamshire, the big area that it is, and they've not got an engineer available in that area.
"I find that disgusting to be quite honest with you. I've been with British Gas for over 20 years.
"We purposely pay that extra every month so that if anything does break we can ring them and somebody will come out.
"Seeing as how cold it's been you would've thought that being a vulnerable person they would've come out earlier. We got no offer of any heating, never asked us if we could borrow any heaters from anywhere.
"Fortunately someone came and lent us a little electric heater after I put it on Facebook. All last night we were upstairs in the bedroom just to try and stay warm.
"It's not good because I can't have a bath or shower or anything because I've got no water - I'm still in pyjamas, got my bed socks on and dressing gown on. It was absolutely freezing when we got up this morning.
"I'm having to keep my blinds shut just to keep some heat in."
British Gas has been approached for comment.
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