Queen's Park residents in Westminster are demanding compensation after they were left without heating and hot water on this winter's coldest nights.

As temperatures plummeted to the lowest for a decade, householders huddled round small fan heaters in around 15 flats on the Avenue Gardens Estate, in Fourth Avenue.

Westminster Council's housing arm CityWest Homes, which runs the estate, blames the heating failure on a build-up of debris in the pipes and said it was working on the problem.

John Loudoun, 56, who lives on the estate, was without central heating and hot water from last Sunday to last Wednesday night.

He said: "We've suffered for days without heating or hot water, and people on this estate have just had enough.

"I feel the most sorry for people paying on electricity key meters, who will have to pay for the extra electricity costs to keep heaters running.

"People living on pensions might not be able to afford it. Somebody from CityWest Homes needs to say 'I'm sorry and I will sort it out'."

He added that the estate had experienced problems with the heating and hot water in previous years.

"It always seems to be around the coldest times of year, never in the heat of summer," he said.

A CityWest spokeswoman said: "The problems are being caused by debris within the boilers and pipes.

"There are three boilers at this site and we are currently de-scaling and unblocking each one. This work will be completed by next week.

"We have offered temporary heaters to residents who have been affected, in order to warm their homes during this period.

"We will look to offer a refund to all residents affected by the current loss of service when we have resolved the problems with the heating and hot water system.

"Those residents who use an electricity key meter and are concerned about the running costs for these heaters have been advised to contact the estate office for assistance with the expense.

"If additional electricity costs are incurred due to the usage of temporary heaters we will look to compensate residents for this."