The district’s biggest social housing landlord has reported a 20 per cent increase in calls for boiler repairs compared to the same period last year.

During the recent cold snap, Incommunities has been inundated with around 100 calls a day.

The landlord’s gas servicing contractor Lovell Respond received 663 calls for boiler repairs between December 13 and 19.

And since the start of the month, the Repairs Service Centre has dealt with an increase of between 20 per cent and 25 per cent in customer calls on the same period last year – calls mainly about frozen pipes and disruptions to water supplies.

On Monday morning alone, the centre received 131 emergency plumbing requests.

Jez Lester, Incommunities assistant chief executive, asset management, said: “Incommunities repairs teams and Lovell Repond have been working extremely hard responding to reports from customers during the continued very cold weather.

“Despite the difficult weather conditions, staff have shown a really determined approach to making sure customers have continued to receive the best service possible.”

Meanwhile, gas engineers who are members of the GMB union have agreed to work through Christmas after call-outs went up by 180 per cent.

Over the past week, union members at British Gas dealt with more than 231,000 calls, and in all about 103,000 boilers have been serviced by GMB gas engineers.

Garry Smith, GMB national officer for energy, said: “GMB members are the unsung heroes of this cold crisis.

“They have been working through the night to keep homes warm.

“GMB gas engineers are working flat-out this week to make sure customers have the heat and hot water they need as freezing conditions cause record heating system issues across the country.”

The sub-zero conditions were expected to continue today.

Temperatures were forecast to hover between minus six degrees Celsius in the early hours of today, but could rise to minus one degrees Celsius during the afternoon.

Incommunities customers who need to report a home repair should contact the 24-hour repairs hotline on (01274) 257003, or for boiler repairs contact 0845 2998556.