PENSIONERS last night spoke of their distress at living through two of the coldest months of the year without hot water in their homes.

Several residents of Sir ED Walker Homes, in Darlington, have been told their two-month wait for their hot water supply to be fixed could last several more weeks.

For some days over Christmas, as many as 15 homes on the development had to survive with no water at all, but although cold water has been restored, hot water is still unavailable.

The problems are understood to be due to a fault with the drainage system, but homeowners have yet to be told when it will be fixed.

Last night, residents - most of whom are elderly and some in ill health - and their relatives said it was becoming depressing.

Darlington Age Concern pledged to launch an investigation into the situation, which one official branded "ridiculous".

The privately-owned development, built from a trust fund left by local benefactor Sir ED Walker, has its own water supply.

Despite repeated calls from The Northern Echo, no one from the Coniscliffe Road development was prepared to comment, but Northumbrian Water said that it has helped by providing some maintenance work, even though the supply is outside its control.

A spokesman said: "The development has a private distribution system but, at one stage, when they were without water over the Christmas period, we helped to provide emergency cover."

He added that Northumbrian Water had also helped with some on-site digging and technical advice as a "goodwill gesture".

Residents said they wished their ordeal would end.

One elderly woman, who asked not to be named, said: "I'm quite active, but I've got friends who are not in the best of health. It's getting us all down, and it's especially hard for them. By now, it's getting to be really inconvenient. All we want is some hot water."

A concerned relative said their whole family was affected. He said: "At first, it was inconvenient, but now it's plain awful. How hasn't this been fixed?

"It's making people depressed, and I worry constantly. These people are old, some are ill, they pay their rent and are entitled to better than this."

Councillor Charles Johnson, chair of Darlington Age Concern, said the situation appeared to be unacceptable.

He said: "This is a crazy situation, it is ridiculous to think people can live for all that time without hot water. We will start an investigation first thing."