South Lanarkshire Council repairs service is determined to keep operating as much as possible.

Repairs manager, Alison Graham, said: "Not surprisingly, we have had an increase in the number of calls we are handling, with the majority of them relate to heating problems and frozen pipes. Heating calls are being prioritised, and we are trying to attend to these within 24 hours.

"To allow us to do so, we are asking anyone who has a repair that needs attended to, but which is not an emergency, to call back once the severe weather has eased. That way, we are able to target our resources towards the people who need them most urgently.

"However, we are also aware that, if we had previously made appointments with tenants to carry out routine repairs this week, then people may have made specific arrangements to be there for us on the day, and we don't want to let these people down if at all possible. As well as dealing with the emergencies, we are therefore trying to fulfil as many of these commitments as we can.

"We have actually been contacted by a number of members of the public to commend staff on their efforts, which is always a boost to us while we try to help."

South Lanarkshire Council have asked tennants not to call about any routine repairs or frozen pipes, people with pipes that are frozen, not burst, should follow the actions below.

• Open the tap nearest to the part of the pipe you think is frozen so that water can flow through when it has melted.
• Thaw the ice in the pipe with either a hot-water bottle or hairdryer, take care to keep it well away from any water
• If no water is coming through, locate and turn off your stopcock until the pipes thaw out
• If a pipe bursts, turn off the water at the stopcock. Turn your immersion heater and/or central heating boiler off, and turn on all your taps to runn of the water in the system
• if there's a risk of water coming into contact with electricity, turn off your electricity supply at the mains

The 24-hour control centre has also experienced a rapid increase in calls, handling emergency calls for heating, the gritting and salting of roads etc.

Dave McSherry, call services manager, revealed: "We are also taking a lot of extra calls relating to sheltered housing complexes, and the fact that we monitor the CCTV cameras from here has also been extremely useful, as we can instantly check the weather conditions in areas right across South Lanarkshire.

"One big difficulty for us is created by the 24-hour nature of the call centre - our staff have to travel here at all times of day and night, often when public transport is not running. They have made great efforts, however, with some even battling through on foot, and we can reassure everyone that the service will keep running, whatever happens with the weather."