A woman in her 80s was left to empty her dishwater by bucket for two months while waiting for a blocked sink to be repaired.

Gloria Wilson, 83, has lived in Earlham House - a development of flats and shops on the edge of Norwich - for 37 years and in this time has had a litany of problems with her sinks.

The latest came in January when her kitchen sink inexplicably stopped draining properly, a problem she immediately alerted her landlord to.

However, despite the landlord’s best efforts, she was left with the problem for the best part of eight weeks, with management company Inspired Property Management unable to rectify the problem sooner.

Mrs Wilson, who lives above a shop and a Chinese restaurant, said: “It has been very frustrating to say the least. I have been here long enough to know that sooner or later something will break down.

“The most recent problem started around 10 days into January so I alerted my landlord right away. It was then up to him to contact Inspired which he did on several occasions, but it just wouldn’t get sorted. They seemed very reluctant to sort it.”

Mrs Wilson said she was left with a choice between either not washing dishes or having to empty the sink by bucket and throwing the water down a different sink - a task that involved carrying buckets up and down her stairs.

She said: “After a while it began to smell in my kitchen because I could not move anything but it did not feel like Inspired realised it was a problem.

“It was only after several weeks of my landlord chasing them that they arranged for somebody to do anything about it.

“At first they did not seem to understand that there it was a problem and it was only after my landlord and a local councillor chased them that something was arranged.

“You honestly do not realise how much you have to put down your sink until you can’t do it.”

Inspired Property Management was approached for comment but did not respond.