Widow endures the freeze as heating engineers keep calling

Jan 16 2009 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Widow endures the freeze as heating engineers keep calling

AN ELDERLY widow considered ending her life after weeks enduring freezing temperatures in her council bungalow.

Vera Ewers, 83, said she thought about suicide because her boiler kept breaking down despite repeated visits from Kirklees Council engineers.

The heating at her home, at Fields Rise, Kirkheaton, first stopped working on December 21.

Mrs Ewers, who was recently honoured for her work with the Land Army in the Second World War, said: “I was very near to ending it because it seemed that the more I asked for help, the less I got.

“I have got really on edge, nervous and run-down and very depressed.

“A friend came over and I was scratching my wrist so hard with anxiety I drew blood.”

Mrs Ewers, who lives alone, said she called the council’s emergency repairs team as soon as her boiler stopped working.

She had a visit from an engineer who could not work out what the problem was.

Since then she has had several calls during which she was told new parts were needed. The last engineer, who called on Monday, managed to get the heating back on.