Heating pressures

Published: 7 July, 2011

• YOUR story (Councillor to raise funds for 91-year-old’s shower, June 30) surely typifies all that is lousy about this council?

I am not infirm but face a similar problem in my council flat.

It is on a communal plumbing system, so inefficient that we are charged three times the going rate for our hot water use than my friend pays who has a modern gas boiler. I pay £15.09 for heating charge per week whether or not I use it, all year round. The water charge is separate at £3.60 extra).

I cannot put in my own shower as there is no pressure on the hot water tap; if I decide to bypass the current system by installing an electric shower then I have to continue to pay the heating –  all of which means a disproportionate amount coming from my pension credit.

Because there is no pressure on the hot tap I cannot mix hot and cold for hair washing, so I have to get onto my knees in the bath so that I can rinse my hair using a jug. An infirm person cannot do this so what happens?

Friends who visit from abroad are shocked by the low standard of hygiene amenities in our flats. I remember an old friend from Denmark, who visited me here 20 years ago commenting then about this wasteful system.

What do others think about Camden’s lack of “green” credentials and “cruelty” to infirm constituents?

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED, NW1