Vulnerable residents left without heating for weeks

Patriic Gayle said some of the residents were "frozen to the bone"

Hundreds of people, many of whom are elderly or have disabilities, have been left to manage in freezing temperatures with no heating or hot water after the shared boiler system in their block of flats broke weeks ago.

Residents in the 400 flats at The Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury have not been told how long it could take for the system to be repaired.

"We are cold, we're unhappy, we're miserable," said resident Patriic Gayle. "We have people with serious health conditions that are just frozen to the bone."

Camden Council, which is responsible for the boiler system, apologised to all of those affected and said it was working urgently with contractors to get it fixed "as soon as possible".

Jo Reuben, chair of the Brunswick Tenant Residents Association, said her flat was "incredibly cold".

She said she reported the loss of heating and hot water a couple of weeks ago.

'Distressing'

"I don't have an immersion heater," she said. "When the boilers go down, a lot of people think it's still working because they're running hot water through their immersion heater.

"The minute I turn on the hot water, if it's cold, I know the whole system's down."

She said she went knocking on her neighbours' doors to check how they were coping with the lack of heat.

"I did find it distressing to see people incredibly vulnerable. I met a lady that was bed bound. She'd been in hospital for pneumonia and had been brought back, put into her bed in [the] cold."

Ms Reuben said some residents had been supplied with heaters, but were worried about the cost of using them.

John Mahoney said he was wheezing and his lungs were struggling in the cold

Resident John Mahoney said the lack of heating and hot water was affecting his lungs "very badly".

"I'm one of the people that do suffer with the chest. I'm supposed to keep warm at all times.

"When this happens, I cannot breathe, I'm wheezing. So I have to go to the hospital."

He added: "There's a woman right across from me, she's 93. She's really cold.

"There's a lot of old people. There's people older than me, there's people in wheelchairs - everything. I don't know how they're managing."

'Goes wrong far too regularly'

Mr Gayle said he believed there had been issues with the building's hot water and heating for more than a decade.

"This is not uncommon for us. We kind of have this ritual every single year. However, what we've had this year, is this very cold snap," he said.

"You have 400 properties all having to use a shared boiler system. It has to be maintained, it has to be nurtured. We know things go wrong, but this goes wrong far too regularly.

"I'm paying nearly £20 a week for hot water and heating. I would quite like it to work."

A Camden Council spokesperson said they had and would continue to visit vulnerable tenants "to ensure they are safe, warm and get the care they need".

"If necessary, we will find them alternative temporary accommodation," they said.

"We have given residents temporary heaters and arranged access to nearby shower and leisure facilities. We are putting in temporary boilers and aim to have these up and running by Wednesday.

"We will continue to keep residents updated and urge anyone who needs additional support to contact us."