By ELISA MENENDEZ

A KIND-HEARTED plumber is fixing water and heating emergencies for free, after being horrified by the plight of an elderly Burnley man left bedbound and freezing cold.

James Anderson’s mission began when he received a phone call about the man needing a new boiler but could not afford the quoted price of £5,000.

Not only were the radiators broken, but the man had been living for weeks without running water.

James, who owns Northern Plumbing and Heating Services on Ormerod Street in Burnley, was so horrified by what he saw that he did the work for free.

He said: “I went in and the gentleman was bedbound, he was elderly and disabled. His house was freezing cold.”

“Elderly people get taken advantage of — not everyone does it because there are some brilliant workers — but you get the odd one or two who give us a bad name,” he added.

James has set up a Crowdfunder page to raise money and has received more than £2,500 in donations so far.

Now he is determined to make the project a national charity to help elderly and disabled people.

He said: “There are too many people who are in a position where they can’t afford anything.

“If someone is struggling, they will get it. Simple. They don’t have to pay anything.

“That little smile on their faces is worth it.”

Another driving force behind the heart-warming initiative is James’s wife, Barbara, who was left disabled after a traumatic car accident 20 years ago left her with a broken spine and suffering from Graves’ disease — an auto-immune illness that affects the thyroid.

Although James’s wife is ‘able bodied, very strong and independent’, her experience — along with that of the elderly man — prompted him to help more people in need.

He said: “I look at society and I think it needs help but we need to be a community. We need to bring ourselves back together. We have lost it.”

James’s ambition is to create a national helpline for people in emergencies, which would provide a local plumber to fix the issue free of charge.

Feeling hopeful for the future, he is already in talks to team up with a national UK charity and a supplier who will provide the materials in bulk.

He said: “I want to make the scheme available in the whole of the country.

“It will grow, I’m determined to make it grow,” said James.

To donate, visit crowdfunder.co.uk/elderley-and-disabled-free-plumbing-and-heating.