A DISABLED pensioner says he has twice been left without central heating for several days – despite paying British Gas for guaranteed swift repairs.

Thomas Mitchell, 67, of Huntington, also claims that when his wife complained about being left in the cold, she was told the couple should sleep in their living room with the gas fire on.

Mr Mitchell said he bought a new central heating boiler from British Gas only 18 months ago.

He said he paid the company £36 a month for a Homecare 400 policy, which guaranteed someone would come out to carry out repairs within 48 hours if the heating broke down.

But earlier this month, when the heating went off, it was four days before engineers came out and tackled “pressure problems” in the system.

He said his wife told an employee at a call centre that they were struggling in the cold weather, and that he was disabled.

“I have had a kidney transplant, have no sight in one eye and cannot use one of my feet.

“But they just said we should put the gas fire on in the living room and sleep there.”

He said that only a week or so after the repair, the boiler broke down again, and this time it took five days for engineers to come out on Tuesday this week. He hoped it would not now break down again for a third time.

Mr Mitchell said he appreciated that the company had been busy because of the cold weather, but it should still get out within the guaranteed 48 hours and also have prioritised a visit to him because of his circumstances.

A British Gas spokeswoman apologised for the length of time Mr Mitchell had to wait for the engineer to come out.

She said that during the current spell of cold weather, the company was experiencing very high call volumes and was prioritising call-outs so its engineers helped the most vulnerable customers first.

“We established that Mr Mitchell had an alternative source of heating that he could use while we waited for an engineer to become available,” she said. “However, we understand that Mr Mitchell experienced a considerable delay on both occasions so as a goodwill gesture we are going to give him £100 towards his energy bill and are arranging for a bunch of flowers to be sent to apologise.”