AN angry Winchester mum had her Christmas ruined when her boiler broke down during one of the coldest winters on record.

It left Joanna McGee and her three children from Harestock without heating or hot water for nearly three weeks.

Christmas Day for Mrs McGee and husband Shaun was shivering under a duvet at the three-bedroom home in Upton Grey Close.

She said despite promises from housing association A2 Dominion, the boiler - which went wrong on Christmas Eve - still has not been fixed.

"I'm very angry," said the 36-year-old student from the University of Winchester. "I have got three children and we have all suffered from colds and quite bad chest coughs."

The situation got so bad her 12-year-old son Liam, a pupil at Kings' School, fainted twice because of the severity of his cold.

Contractors told Mrs McGee the replacement boiler part would be ordered on December 29 but this was later put back to January 4. She was then told an engineer would visit to fit the part on January 5, but no-one showed.

"In the morning the temperature has been as low as minus six, it's just ridiculous," she added. "It would be nice if they treated us like people, rather than animals."

It has forced the family to rely on two mobile heaters to try and keep warm and boil kettles every time they want a bath.

It is not the first time the boiler has gone wrong - Mrs McGee said it had malfunctioned on five other occasions last year.

Her woes come as inspectors from the Audit Commission said A2 Dominion had "more strengths than weaknesses". But they went on to say repairs were taking too long and urged the group to make sure work was carried out to a sufficient standard.

A2 Dominion has already admitted complaints are up - the latest figures from 2007/08 reveal there were 481, compared with 293 the year before. The group hit the headlines last January when Stanmore mother-of-two Kerry Goddard was left with a broken boiler for six weeks in freezing conditions.

David Lingeman, A2Dominion's director of property Services said: "We sincerely regret that our service was not up to standard on this occasion and that our resident, Ms Joanna McGee, has experienced problems with her boiler.

"One of contractors visited her home to examine the boiler immediately after it was reported to us on 24 December 2009.

"We found that a new part was required. However, despite our best efforts to hold a stock of spares we had difficulty obtaining the spare part required to complete this repair.

"We have been looking into this matter as a priority and hope to resolve this by the end of the week. We have also provided Ms McGee with temporary heaters and help with the additional cost.

"Once again we wish to apologise for the inconvenience and disruption caused and will be getting in touch in due course to offer her compensation for the time she was without heating."