Hundreds of pensioners in Thanet are missing out on cold weather payments because of tiny temperature differences at weather stations across Kent.

Despite the big freeze that gripped much of the county, temperatures recorded by the Met Office at Manston have consistently been around 0.5 degrees Celsius warmer than those at the West Kent monitoring station in Charlwood, near Gatwick airport.

It means that older people living in Thanet are missing out on cold weather payments of £25 a week even though residents in other parts of Kent have received them.

The payements are triggered when the average temperature drops, or is forecast to fall, below freezing over seven consecutive days.

Roger Gale, MP for North Thanet, said: "The trouble with this scheme is that wherever you draw the line, someone is going to be on the wrong side.

"But it seems quite wrong that pensioners living in one of the most deprived parts of the country don’t qualify, whereas those living in affluent parts of West Kent do.

"I believe that, rather than receiving handouts, older people should be given more adequate pensions that allow them to make their own decisions when it comes to things like heating."