AN ELDERLY Bradford couple have angrily criticised an energy supplier after they were left without central heating for almost four days as temperatures plummeted.

Diabetes sufferer Stanley Gamble and his wife Christine said they spent most of last weekend in dressing gowns and huddled around a gas fire at their home as they struggled to stay warm.

The couple, of Raeburn Drive, Wibsey, said they pay XtraWarm nearly £200 a year boiler cover and £170 a month in energy bills but they have been left in the cold since Friday afternoon.

"We have had no heating whatsoever, just a little gas fire in the front room," said Mrs Gamble. "We are absolutely freezing.

"My husband is 83. He is diabetic and is constantly cold. He has to keep the heating on because he is constantly cold. He has felt shocking over the weekend."

She added: "Our water was running cold so we phoned XtraWarm on Friday. They said they would come out at midday but he came at 6pm and said we needed a new part for our boiler.

"He said the heating would be fine but didn't check the radiators or anything like that. As soon as he went they went cold.

"At midnight my grandson came home from work and rang them up. He told them the position and how cold the house was, but was told that no-one works over the weekend."

Mrs Gamble said she rang again yesterday hoping to be a priority because of the couple's age.

"We phoned up at 8am but they never phoned us back," she said. "They got stroppy on the phone and said an engineer would come out on Tuesday.

"They have had no sympathy to us. I think they should have done things a bit quicker considering our ages.

"I feel let down. We have been with them quite a long time and we have not had them out a lot.

"We just want our heating back on. At our age they should have fit us in. We can manage without hot water but not without heating."

Mrs Gamble said she wanted XtraWarm to at least come to her house yesterday, to avoid another night with "no heating whatsoever".

"We have stayed in the living room as long as we could to try to stay warm," she said. "My husband's room is like an iceberg.

"We have had each other to keep going, but anybody who is living alone, it could kill them off. If it was summertime it would not be so bad, but in this cold weather it is not good.

"We have felt terrible. It makes you a bit het up with each other because you are cold and miserable."

The Telegraph & Argus rang XtraWarm and spoke to a customer service manager who would only give her name as Debbie.

She said she could not speak about the couple's predicament because of data protections laws and she insisted there was no-one else at the company who would be able to comment.