This is Essex --A WHEELCHAIR-BOUND woman and her son are entering their eighth week of freezing temperatures in their home after a car smashed into it.
Gaping holes remain from the impact, leaving Christine Pine and her 16-year-old son Conner at the mercy of the elements.
Christine said: "I've rung the housing association Affinity Sutton lots of times and they've said they'll be in contact when they can do it.
"I just want something done before it starts snowing, which it usually does in January."
Their troubles started at about 10.30pm on Thursday, November 21, when they heard an enormous bang.
"I was in bed and Conner was in his room when we heard this smash.
"He came to see me and he was shaking like a leaf, but we never saw a car because it drove off."
Police attended the incident, took photos of the damage done to Ms Pine's flat in Eastern Crescent, Melbourne, Chelmsford, and began their investigations.
But the 45-year-old, who has had multiple sclerosis for 12 years and relies on four daily visits from carers for her basic needs, is still struggling to get the damage fixed.
Instead, she is forced to wear a number of layers with a blanket and hot water bottle over her legs to keep warm.
Ms Pine added: "I can't regulate my body heat and if I get something like pneumonia I could pass away from it.
"I can't walk at all. I can't even get out of the room.
"The crash didn't break the heating but I won't turn it on as all the heat will go straight to the wall – I can't afford to heat outside.
"So we've taken the radiator off and the sofa is against the wall because I don't want to look at the damage, plus it's stopping a bit of the breeze."
Despite her situation, Ms Pine is refusing to get downbeat.
"It's one of those things," she said. "I can't do anything about it.
"If they won't come to fix it I can't do anything."
A spokeswoman for Affinity Sutton said: "We are aware of an incident involving a car driving into the building and appreciate the distress this will have caused the resident.
"On notification from our out-of-hours service, our repairs contractor immediately instructed the gas utility company to undertake the necessary safety checks and our heating contractor also undertook its own safety assessment so that we could be sure the resident was not in any danger.
"A further structural assessment of the building frontage indicated no significant structural damage to the property.
"However there are some final works required to place it back to its original condition and we will be working with the resident to ensure that these are carried out as swiftly as possible.
"We can confirm that the works will commence during the week beginning Monday, January 20, and we will update the resident on the specific commencement date shortly." Reported by This is 1 day ago.