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Connah’s Quay dad stranded in hospital – because his home is too cold

Dec 23 2010 by Dave Goodban, Flintshire Chronicle

A DAD-OF-THREE was left stranded in hospital after an operation because the heating at his home broke down for the 12th time in six weeks.

Lorraine Ellis, said her husband Kevin had been unable to return to the family home on Linden Avenue, Connah’s Quay, after a routine operation – because their house was too cold for him to recover in.

The 36-year-old mum has been forced to send daughter Chloe, 11, and four-year-old son Mackenzie to bed fully clothed during the big freeze because Flintshire County Council had failed to rectify the problem.

But on Tuesday council engineers finally fixed the boiler and Kevin was able to go home for Christmas.

Lorraine said: “A couple of weeks ago, the boiler broke down every single day for a fortnight. The council sent an engineer to look at it and we thought it was fixed, but on Monday it broke down again.

“We had been out to visit Kevin in hospital and when we came back the house was absolutely freezing.

“I checked the gas and the meter and they were both fine.”

Lorraine said she immediately called the council, but was told her family was ‘not a priority’ because there were no pensioners in the house.

She added: “I told them we have young children but was told to send them to bed in more clothes. I have been in tears.

“It has taken a long time for them to fix the problem, I just hope it stays fixed because my husband cannot stay in the cold. If it goes down they said they would come out straight away and fix it again.”

Connah’s Quay councillor Bernie Attridge said the family enlisted his help when the problems began six weeks ago.

He said he contacted council housing chiefs straight away and is ‘sick to the back teeth’ of repairs not being carried out.

A council spokesman said: “The gas central heating boiler installed is adequate to provide enough heating for this type of property.

“One of our heating technicians visited the property on Tuesday and discovered that the condensation pipe had frozen due to the adverse weather conditions and the caused the boiler to lock out.

“Engineers have since replaced the frozen pipe and the boiler is now working satisfactorily.”

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