Carole, 65, left stranded in her Chorley home for two days after burst pipe SOS goes unanswered

Carole Swanton, 65, who has severe arthritis, claims the company who service her central heating failed to send a plumber despite repeated calls for help.

"There were two inches of water in one room and I couldn't even boil a kettle," she said. "They told me I was a priority case and they would get someone to me as quickly as they could.

"But no-one showed up on Saturday and I've sat here all day Sunday waiting for someone to fix it. It's disgraceful."

Carole, who lives in The Farthings at Chorley, discovered the burst when the Arctic blast started to ease on Saturday morning. Water was pouring from the attic, damaging the bedroom, hallway and garage. She managed to turn the supply off at the stop-tap. But with standing water the electricity supply tripped and couldn't be re-started, meaning she was left without heating or lighting for hours on end. She had to wrap up with coats, scarves, gloves and a sheepskin rug to ward off the cold.

She said her service agreement with Stoke-on-Trent based Your Repair promised a call-out within four hours. But that came and went leaving Carole facing a chilly evening and night without help. The wait went on into Sunday and still no plumber answered the SOS.

"I lost count of the number of times I contacted the company asking when someone would be coming," she said. "I phoned them, emailed them and despite all the promises no-one turned up. I appreciate that plumbers would be very busy dealing with burst pipes after all that cold weather, but I was stranded without any heating or lighting. I couldn't get a hot meal. It was awful.

"I've had a service agreement with Your Repair for about 18 months and, apart from them coming to do the annual boiler service, I haven't needed to call them out. When the water was pouring out I got on the phone straight away at around 9am on Saturday. They told me someone would be with me within four hours. But they never came. I must have phoned dozens of times and also sent numerous emails from my phone, but nothing.

"I have severe medical needs which risk being made more serious by sitting in a cold house with no power or hot water. At one point at about eight o'clock on Saturday night I told them I might be able to get to a friend's house, but in the end I couldn't. I asked them to make me the first call on Sunday morning, but that never happened either.

"I've got arthritis as well as everything else and that gets worse when it's cold and damp. So I've had a pretty miserable time to say the least."

The Post tried to contact Your Repair over the weekend, but the out-of-hours department told us: "We are not allowed to speak to the press. You will have to ring us back tomorrow."