Soldiers forced to buy heaters for barracks in funding crisis

ARMED FORCES personnel living in dilapidated barracks are so cold they are being forced to buy heaters from Argos to keep warm, it has emerged.

MPs said last night that a “generation of under-investment” in accommodation was exacerbating the crisis in recruitment and causing veteran troops to resign in despair.

Breakdowns in central heating and hot water are routinely left for months before being fixed and conditions in many bases are so bad that personnel are no longer paying for their accommodation, according to sources.

At the home of the Royal Signals, recruits trying to grapple with complex signalling equipment are so cold that training has been hindered.

Meanwhile, chronic boiler failures at the RAF headquarters in High Wycombe have forced more than 120 personnel to live with intermittent hot water and central heating for the past three years. Similar problems have been plaguing the Royal Marines of 45 Commando at their base near Arbroath in Scotland since the beginning of January, as well troops at the Royal Artillery barracks in Woolwich.

The complaints follow disclosures in The Daily Telegraph last month that crumbling boilers at the home of the Foot Guards in central London was forcing soldiers to perform ceremonial duties at Buckingham Palace despite not having showered for days.

The unreliability of heating systems has heaped further pressure on the MoD estates contractor Carillion Amey, whose performance was heavily criticised in a government report last year.

Carillion Amey said that the troops at RM Condor [Arbroath] were offered alternative accommodation as the boilder was replaced. The problems at Woolwich were due to failing pipework, the replacement of which has now been completed. A project to repair district main at RAF High Wycombe was also completed this week.