A DISABLED man says he was left without hot water by his landlord for five days.

Mark Bryan, of Wycombe Street, Darlington, said his housing association, Home Housing, took five days to fix his boiler. Mr Bryan, 38, has kidney problems which means he needs to keep clean and free of infection.

He said: "I sat in the flat with no hot water for five days. I have made more than 30 calls, which I have registered and logged."

Paul Stephens, housing manager at Home Housing, said Mr Bryan did not report the fault until Monday, and it was fixed by Wednesday.

He said: "I think initially, when Mr Bryan reported the fault, he did not mention he had special needs, otherwise we would have treated it with the urgency it needed.

"Our technicians responded the same day, and the only reason for the delay was because they needed to get a special part for the boiler."