A CAPEL Hendre family were left in the cold this Christmas after being let down by local authorities.

Shauna Prendiville and Joshua Davies, of Bancyddraenen, reported their boiler broken to Carmarthenshire County Council on December 8, and are still waiting for heating in their home to be fixed almost a month later.

The incident left the couple along with their four-year-old daughter Asha unable to have Christmas dinner in their own home and having to wash in a relative’s home.

The 23-year-old said: “I first noticed there was something wrong with the boiler when my landing was filled up with smoke.

“Josh works away so I was in the house with Asha at the time. I called the council the next day and they sent out an engineer who said the boiler was faulty and I needed a new one.”

The couple were informed previously that the street are changing from oil to gas heating and believe that because of the upcoming change to all the houses the council won’t help.

Shauna, who has been living at the property for five years, added: “After numerous of phone calls to the council I was eventually told that the new boiler would be ready to be installed on December 22.

“I stayed in all day three days before Christmas. I left it until 4.30 and I rung the council only to be told that person who was going to authorise the boiler wasn’t in and I had to wait until January 9.

“I was really annoyed because by then it will have been over a month. We couldn’t have our Christmas dinner in our own home and Asha had to miss the last week of school because she was smothering with a cold because our house is so cold.

“Thankfully my family live nearby so we are spending a majority of our time there because the house is too cold.”

Joshua, 24, said: “At the moment we have four electric heaters on in the house all day which is costing us over £15 a day.

“The whole street is having a system fitted in the New Year so it is obvious the council don’t want to spend their money on our boiler because it will have to be changed in a few days’ time.”

Carmarthenshire County Council have been contacted for a response.