Thomas Marshall (75) of Pennine Road, Thorne, and his family endured living with no heating since their boiler broke on November 2, but after an article about their plight in the Thorne Gazette, the situation was quickly resolved.

The boiler in the house was installed as part of the government's Warm Front scheme, that provides a package of insulation and heating improvements up to the value of £3,500 for eligible families.

Mr Marshall's niece Anne Barton (37) who lives with him, says she is convinced it was because of the article that the situation was finally resolved.

She added: "I honestly believe we'd still be waiting for it to be fixed if it wasn't for the story in the paper. I just can't thank the paper enough for helping us. I'd been trying to sort this out for weeks, with phone calls and all sorts.

"The difference is just amazing, in fact, we'd got so used to being freezing all the time that when the heating was first put on we had to turn it down!"

An engineer went out to fix the problem on January 7 after the story appeared on the front of the Gazette and, after replacing a part in the boiler, the heating was up and running again.

Miss Barton said: "It only took them about half an hour. The whole situation has been ridiculous really to think we waited for months and it was such a quick job to fix it.

"We were beginning to think we were cursed for Christmas as we had our quad bike stolen last year and then no heating for Christmas this year."

Mr Marshall, who is undergoing chemotherapy for bladder cancer, was forced to cancel his treatment at the end of December because the heating situation was making him so ill. But now the boiler is fixed, the family are hoping he will be well enough to attend his hospital appointments.