AN Auchinleck mum is angry over the way the council dealt with her complaint of a faulty cooker after she was reportedly told to feed her three children cold sandwiches until it was fixed.

The woman says that her cooker stopped working on Saturday, February 6, due to the on/off switch sparking at the wall and claims that when she contacted East Ayrshire Council to seek assistance, she was told that it wasn’t an emergency and would have to wait until Monday.

The woman claims that a representative from housing maintenance advised her to feed her three children, all of whom are under 10, cold sandwiches or to go to a neighbour’s house to have food heated up. Fearing the latter may be a breach of COVID rules, the woman resorted to living off takeaways for three days.

The woman said: “I felt terrible for the kids. We had to go to the chip shop together because there’s no one else to watch them. The journey put me at risk.

“A repair man came on Monday and said that he didn’t know how it hadn’t been put down as an emergency as other workers were on standby. The council are hypocrites saying every child is entitled to one hot meal a day.”

A council spokesperson said: “The tenant was advised of the appointment time in line with council repairing timescales and appropriate advice and guidance was provided to ensure the household were able to access food, adhering to COVID-19 guidelines.”