Retired telephone engineer Arthur Fry, 87, of St Mary's Drive phoned Scottish Hydro Electric on Thursday following the breakdown of his central heating boiler. As he had been paying boiler insurance for years, he didn't anticipate that there would be any problem getting the problem fixed quickly.

However, the engineer sent to carry out the repairs bluntly told Mr. Fry that he would not be fixing the boiler as there was asbestos in the roof space, leaving the grandfather of two to face the recent wintry weather with only electric heaters to keep away the chill. The next day, Scottish Hydro phoned to say that his insurance contract had been cancelled.

"I have received an annual inspection for years," Mr Fry told the Times. "I had an inspector round as recently as December, and he gave the entire system the all clear. He never mentioned anything about the asbestos in the gables. My insurance instalment for January has been paid, and I really didn't see this coming. I've been properly left in the lurch"

Mr. Fry, a former RAF gunner during World War 2, has since been relying on electric heaters donated by his family. "Two hours before I go to bed, I need to leave one of these heaters on in my bedroom. Then I have to leave one bar on at night just to maintain a reasonable temperature. These houses are comparatively well insulated, but even that doesn't stop the temperature from dropping. I'm practically carrying an electric heater with me wherever I go in the house"

Scottish Hydro have offered to refund Mr. Fry £268. He has since been in contact with neighbour and councillor, Rob Merson, about the matter.
Councillor Merson told the Times, "I've met with Mr. Fry and I have the details, which I will, in turn, pass over to Alex Salmond as the constituency MSP."

"I would expect a company of this size to have a coherent policy on asbestos at the very least", Mr. Fry said. "I'm really concerned for all my neighbours on this particular estate. They should be wary of any central heating insurance they might have. All these houses were built around thirty years ago, when asbestos was routinely used as a building material."

The Times contacted Scottish and Southern Energy, Scottish Hydro Electric's parent company. Shannon Miller McKenzie, press spokesperson, said "I really can't comment further on the individual case. We understand that this is inconvenient to Mr. Fry, and we have refunded him the premiums that he has paid as a goodwill gesture, which was the right thing to do on this occasion. However, I will stress that this is one, individual case."