A MAN was unable to undergo a hospital test for cancer because he had no heating for a month and his home was too cold to go back to.

Jason Curtis, 43, and his partner, Anna Ricci, 46, of Oldwyk, Vange, suffered because the heating was not fixed.

Mr Curtis had to cancel a hospital procedure to check for bowel and colon cancer because his house was too cold for him to recuperate afterwards.

He now has to wait another month to check for the disease.

He said: “It’s been hell here, it really has. Missing this hospital appointment has been on my mind, it’s such a worry.

“We were sitting here in the evening and could see our breath.

“Then we were so cold we’d go to bed, and we had four or five blankets on the bed.

“It’s been a nightmare. What if someone had kids, or it was an elderly person?”

He said engineers, who were first called on January 6, had let the couple down five times, by cancelling appointments and not coming to the property prepared to fix the problem.

Circle Housing, which manages the property, has given the couple two fan heaters until the problem is fixed, and offered to pay £5 a day for runing costs.

But Mr Curtis said they would have to fork out £25 a day to run the heaters, so had no choice but to stay cold.

Tracy White, managing director at Circle Housing South Anglia, said: “The contractor attended last Friday to address the issue and ensure the heating is working.

“We agree it is clearly unacceptable to be left without heating and have apologised directly for the inconvenience and discomfort caused.”