It was the coldest week of the year, with temperatures below freezing, and I had no heating. No hot water to wash in or wash up in, no hot water to warm the radiators.
My boiler had died and getting it fixed took more than a week, a lot of phone calls, two call out charges and a long search for parts before I could shower again.
And this year the same thing will happen to thousands of other families – many of them simply because the person who installed their boiler didn’t do their job properly.