A GRANDMOTHER says she feels "cold" and "lonely" after being left without gas for almost two weeks.

Thornhill resident Valerie Cox has been with no supply since Friday September 16.

The 86-year-old lives on her own and is confined to one room with an electric heater.

Her son Philip Marshall-Cox called an emergency number after discovering that no gas was getting to the smart meter in her home in Shelley Road.

He has called and messaged energy provider SSE multiple times without success.

"You just feel so helpless," he said.

The 52-year-old added: "At first I thought there must be a serious mains leak, after having established there was no gas getting to the meter."

The Daily Echo has seen correspondence between Philip and SSE General Enquiries showing attempts to live chat an adviser via whatsapp.

On Wednesday last week, messages from an adviser at SSE said that an engineer would visit to fix the meter.

Philip said the messages implied that the situation was being treated as an emergency.

To this date, he says says nobody has come out and his mum is still without heating.

The grandmother of four stays in her lounge at the back of the house, which she is heating with an electric heater.

"I hate to think what the electricity bill will be because this thing is heating through," Philip said.

He said he also called the SSE head of health and safety "in desperation", but couldn't get through to anyone.

He left a "long voicemail" explaining how his mother is "86 and vulnerable" and hadn't had gas for a week.

Valerie said: "It's cruel. I feel cold. It is upsetting, especially when you live on your own.

"When there are other people you do not notice it as much [but] when you live on your own, it is endless, morning until night."

She added: "All the other rooms are cold. I get in bed quickly. I dread to think what it will be like when I get the bills.

"Living at the back of the house, you do not see anybody. You are very lonely."

Gas supplier SSE and Ovo Energy, which acquired SSE’s household energy business in the UK in 2020, have been contacted for comment.

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