ANCHO tenants were caught up in a phoneline nightmare for three weeks over the festive holidays.

Tenants who had to phone for an emergency repair were caught in a loop of being told to dial the same number over and over but no one was at the other end of the telephone.

And among them was an Irvine mum and her son had only one wish at Christmas – to enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep.

But Tracy Anderson and her 11-year-old son Jackson’s wishes didn’t come true as they had to endure three weeks of being woken up at 11pm on the dot each night by pipes in the flat upstairs making a sound similar to a ship’s foghorn.

The ANCHO tenant of Park Place, Castlepark, was at her wit’s end after phoning the emergency repair number for her landlord but never getting a response.

When you called the number it asked you to call the number you had just dialled.

And to make matters worse housing officers were unavailable from Christmas Eve until January 6.

“I thought I was going off my head,” said Tracy.

“At first we thought it was a one off, it would pass and my neighbour and I investigated it but the noise from his tap would bellow every night from 11pm until around 6am.

“We tried everything, all kinds of ear plugs and in the end we would nap during the day to get ready for a disturbed night.

“I am only glad the schools were off as Jackson was shattered.”

Tracy found herself going round in circles as the emergency repair line was faulty, asking you to hang up and call a number but it was the number you had just dialled.

The desperate mum said: “We had a terrible time over Christmas and it felt like no one was listening.

“I then thought, I’ll call the Irvine Times, they can maybe help.”

Within 24 hours of us contacting ANCHO, the repairs had been carried out and on January 6 Tracy and Jackson slept all night long.

“I cannot thank the paper enough, I wouldn’t wish what we went through on anyone.”

A spokesperson for ANCHO said: “Our contractors attended Park Place on January 6 and a full repair has been made.

“We are very sorry for the noise experienced from another property and we are monitoring the situation with our tenants to ensure it does not return.

“We experienced a technical issue with our out-of-hours service over the Christmas break which meant that some Ancho tenants were unable to report repairs.

“We identified the issue and will ensure this does not happen again. We have been calling tenants who tried to reach us while the service was unavailable, to follow up any actions still required and we offer our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused.”