A pensioner was forced to leave his home at Christmas after turning off the heating and returning home to a burst pipe and a flood.

Ray Adams, 60, of Briarwood Avenue, on The Moss, got home on December 22 to the sight of water running down the walls and covering his feet. He said: "I was absolutely devastated when I saw what had happened. It’s ruined my Christmas. I saw all that water drowning my house.

"I just thought ‘I need help’ and called the fire brigade."

Firefighters arrived shortly before midnight and Ray was later told it wasn’t safe for him to return to his two-bed bungalow.

Cheshire Peaks & Plains, the social landlord which owns the property, was working on somewhere for Ray to stay. In the meantime he had to sleep on sofas and spent his days in the pub to keep warm.

Ray, who is separated from his wife and retired from Slater Harrison paper mill in Bollington, added: "I’ve been sleeping at my brother’s but he's a carer who lives with someone else and there's not really room. I don’t like to be a burden."

A CPP spokeswoman said Ray had turned off the heating in his two-bed bungalow and Ray admitted he had been sleeping on a sofa in his lounge with the fire on because ‘the boiler had been playing up’.

CPP said: "We are working hard to get Mr Adams back into his home as soon as possible following a burst pipe.

"The pipe had frozen due to the heating being switched off, which goes against our advice to leave heating on low at all times through this cold weather.

"We have had no reports of problems with Mr Adams heating and in fact have been trying to make an appointment to carry out a routine annual service on the heating system.

"Unfortunately, despite three appointments being made, we have not been able to contact Mr Adams to access the property."

Neighbour Dawn Wilkinson, 44, went to help when she saw firefighters arrive.

The grandmother-of-seven said: "He was shivering and cold. Everything was soaked. I made him a cup of coffee and just tried to help. It’s horrible that this happened to him at Christmas."

Find advice on how to deal with cold weather and minimise the risk of frozen pipes on the CPP website www.cppht.com .