AN OXFORD pensioner waited more than two weeks for the council to repair her heating and hot water.

Veronica Seeney, 76, of Champion Way, Littlemore, was told by Oxford City Council she would have to wait since it was not a priority during the summer months.

She said: “I was having problems with my boiler and the only thing I had which provided hot water was the shower so I was using that and the kettle for everything.

“I phoned up the council two weeks ago and they told me it is not important at this time of year.

“They said they would get to me as soon as they could.”

Mrs Seeney, who has lived in the house since 1984, was visited three times by a repairman before her boiler was fixed on Tuesday.

After the second visit, the repairman left her with some electric heaters in case she felt cold.

Mrs Seeney also had an immersion heater on her boiler to warm her water.

She said: “The repairman told me he couldn’t do the job, took the part which was broken and said he would come back.

“I lost my temper about it and that was probably what was needed. When I have had problems in winter they have fixed it on the same day.

“I think it is wrong that these jobs are low priority in summer. It has been hard living without the heating and hot water.”

City council spokesman Louisa Dean said repairs during the summer were carried out within 72 hours, in line with its policies which conform to the Government’s Right to Repair Legislation.

Ms Dean said the time taken did not necessarily equate to the time between the complaint being made and the problem being fixed since the problem could turn out to be more complicated than first thought.

This had happened in Mrs Seeney’s case because of corrosion to pipework.