A great-great-grandmother was left without heating in her home as her provider took a full week to find a single part needed for repairs.

Dolly Chaplin, who lives in Mill Hill, lost heating in her home last Thursday (November 17) and she and her family began chasing up repairs with Robert Heath Ltd.

Jane Turner, Ms Chaplin’s granddaughter, was assured by Robert Heath an attempt had been made to fix the heating, but no one had been home and a calling card had been left.

It was made clear to the 96-year-old, who also has great-great-grandchildren, a simple part needed replacing and this would be ordered after technicians visited on Friday, November 18.

While Ms Chaplin waited home all week for the part to be delivered with only an electric heater to warm herself, she and her family were informed on Wednesday (November 23) the part had still yet to arrive.

Ms Turner, who lives in Derby but stays in touch with her grandmother, said: “My grandmother has waited in all week and has missed both her weekly shopping trip to Morrisons on Monday and lunch club on Tuesday.

“She usually attends a pensioners club on a Wednesday which is a lifeline for her but again waited in for the engineer.

“My grandmother is a very proud lady who served in the auxiliary territorial service during the war, she suffers with skin cancer and blood pressure problems and is becoming weaker and more vulnerable every day.

“We feel very strongly Robert Heath need to be exposed for their disgraceful service so other elderly and vulnerable people are not treated so appallingly in the future.”

After a week of waiting, Robert Heath technicians came over to fix Ms Chaplin’s heating last night (November 24).

Robert Heath’s technical contract manager Dean Nelson said: “The part was ordered on Monday as we cannot order parts over the weekend due to the suppliers being closed.

“Our supplier informed us the part was in store on Tuesday but when we tried to collect the required part it was found the part had not been sent and required re-ordering.

“We attended Ms Chaplin’s home on Thursday to fit the required part, now the property has been left with a full functioning heating system with no further issues.”