A disabled mum has slammed her housing association for allowing her to continue living in "unacceptable" conditions, as she caught pneumonia after yobs smashed her windows.
She has now urged the firm to fix the issues in her home, fearing she may "end up in hospital again" if the problem is not addressed and replaced.
Bobby-Jo Boyle, 50, and her daughter, Marley-Paige, 28, have been left feeling vulnerable in the sub-zero temperatures after hooligans smashed three of their living room windows, and left one bedroom window exposed.
The pair have now endured weeks of living with the smashed-in windows, after their Caledonia Housing Association flat was targeted by vandals on November 20, reports the Daily Record.
While the landlord has boarded up the gaps, the lack of insulation has meant that the disabled 50-year-old and her daughter - who works from home - have been struck down with pneumonia.
Temperatures in the area they live, Rattray, Scotland, have reached lows of -8C in recent days - and with the winter tundra continuing this week, the pair have been left fearing for their health.
Bobby-Jo has said that trying to stay warm in their home is akin to “living in Siberia” and have slammed Caledonia for its failure to replace the windows.
She told the Perthshire Advertiser this week: “It is minus four today and was minus eight on Tuesday.
"The boards they put up are wet now and after a few weeks they came along and put duct tape along the sides to seal it up."
The mum went on to add: “What good is that going to do? The water is dripping off the boards. We are freezing in our own home and both of us have got pneumonia. I suffer from Addison’s disease (a rare disorder of the adrenal glands) and COPD asthma.
“I have been on steroids for my health for over the past 25 years and I am on my second course of antibiotics. It is incompetence at the highest level. You can’t live like this. Since the property was damaged we also installed security cameras as an additional security measure. I have an alarm for nurses to come in if anything happens to me.”
Marley-Paige said she had been caring for her mum through her illness, while also working from home in the icy temperatures.
Her mum went on to say that the heating has to constantly be on in order to stave off the ice cold weather, despite the cost of electricity.
She said that neighbours have been kind enough to borrow them additional heaters to keep them warm.
But Bobby-Jo is at her wits end with the situation, saying: “You could not make this up.
“It is unacceptable - what have I got to do? I will end up in hospital again if this is not replaced.”
And with Scotland recording its coldest December in over a decade - after the UK’s lowest maximum temperature for 12 years was recorded in Aberdeenshire - the housing association have confirmed that they will be fixing the issue.
However, Caledonia confirmed the replacements of the windows will not take place until Monday - a month after they were first smashed in.
A spokesperson said: “Our team was alerted to the broken windows and immediately attended to it through our out of hours service on November 20. Our maintenance team have since visited to inspect the property and will be on site Monday, December 19 to replace the broken windows.
“We understand the challenges that this is having on our tenant and have made an offer of additional financial support for heating costs.”
Police Scotland confirmed that a 31-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman were scheduled to appear at Perth Sheriff Court last month in connection with the vandalism incident.
