A MOTHER-OF-TWO says she has been left without hot water for 14 weeks because of a housing association’s inaction.

Stacey Plane, 31, mum to two boys, aged 13 and ten, said her family has to go across the road to a friend’s house to shower.

She said she pays £126 a week in rent to housing association Clarion Housing, but has been left without hot water for around 14 weeks.

Care worker Stacey, of Ratcliffe Court, Colchester, added she had received assurances a new boiler was to be installed at the end of November, but to no avail.

“I think they don’t want to pay the money to fix it,” she said.

“I can’t seem to talk to anyone from Clarion, I have to go through a repair line, or a live chat online which send an automated message saying someone is going to ring you.

“I’ve been phoning nearly every day.

“I’m working 12 to 13 hour night shifts and I can’t have a hot shower when I get home.

“They will say things like ‘the job hasn’t been raised before’, and someone came out twice to say the boiler’s too old and I need a new boiler.

"There doesn’t seem to be the communication there.”

Stacey said the weeks without hot water have begun to take their toll on everyone in the flat.

“When you’re quite a clean person you don’t like to have not hot water to wash up,” she said.

“I have to boil the kettle three times just to wash up. It’s costing me money - £99 in three days I spent on my electricity.

“I’m going to work just to pay for my electricity alone.”

She added: “I shouldn’t have to pay my friend across the road to use her shower. It’s embarrassing. My sister lives up the road so I have to go there sometimes.”

Stacey said her eldest boy, 13, suffers from ADHD and is becoming distressed at the lack of routine.

She said: “His routine is to have a shower every morning at 7am before going to school. It’s frustrating him.”

She says she has now been told a new boiler is to arrive on Tuesday, but is sceptical Clarion will deliver on their promise.

A Clarion spokesperson said: “We apologise for the length of time it has taken to fix the loss of hot water at Ms Plane’s home, which did require a specific part to be ordered in to complete the repair.

"Our contractors visited the property today and the hot water is now fully restored.

"We understand the inconvenience this has caused the family and we will carry out a thorough internal review to ensure that the causes of the delay are not repeated in future.”